There appears to be a bright light
at the end of the tunnel between the Otodo Gbame community and the Lagos State
govt after the former lost in court on Wednesday in its bid to charge the state
for contempt over the alleged demolition of their shanties at the prime
waterfront settlement in Lekki.
It was gathered that the Otodo Gbame
community after a peaceful rally at the state house on Wednesday evening
reached an agreement with Lagos State government on the way forward for a few
of the people who might require assistance for resettlement. It was learnt that
three cabinet members attended to the Egun-born settlers and at the end of the
meeting, the community nominated six people who will meet with the Lagos State
representatives next Tuesday, immediately after Easter break to examine the way
forward.
The Otodo Gbame community had on
Wednesdsy lost the contempt case instituted against Governor Akinwunmi Ambode
at the Lagos High Court where Justice Onigbanjo struck out the case for lack of
jurisdiction.
The waterfront community, which
belongs to a private family but is being illegally occupied by foreigners, had
been razed down by fire in November last year after a deadly inter-ethnic clash
ensued between the Yoruba and Eguns within the community.
It was a similar inter-ethnic clash
on the waterfront that took the life of one of them last Saturday, prompting
the Police to move into the area to restore order. Due to security intelligence
that linked the illegal community with criminal elements like militant
kidnappers and armed robbers, Lagos State Environment Task Force had to clear
the illegal shanties that were still being erected on the waterways since the
community had been razed down completely and had become unsuitable for human
habitation.
Although many of the fishermen who
lived in Otodo Gbame had returned home to their original abode in Badagry,
Cotonou, Porto Novo and Lome, vested interests, especially foreign NGOs have
continued to mislead and prompt the remaining fishermen to become recalcitrant.
It should be recalled that Otodo
Gbame which was originally known as Ilado was a temporary fishing outpost in
Lekki until fishermen from Badagry, Benin Republic and Togo turned it into a
community with unsavoury lifestyle and security threat to the general public.
Tags
Society