EndSARS Protests: Leave Aboki Estate, Gedegede communities, others alone, SPACES FOR CHANGE tells Lagos State Government

By Alison Godswill

SPACES FOR CHANGE, S4C, has urged security and other authorities, to leave the Aboki Estate and Gedegede communities, located directly adjacent to the Lekki Toll Gate, whose residents witnessed the October 20, 2020 shooting of #ENDSARS protesters alone.

In a statement obtained by The Daily, www.thedaily-ng.com, Director, Spaces for Change, Victoria Ibezim-Ohaeri, stated: “Predominantly inhabited by low-wage informal workers and petty traders, who live in shacks and clusters of makeshift homes overlooking the highbrow neighborhoods in the Lekki peninsula, the recent demolitions have rendered hundreds of families homeless and pushed them deeper into poverty at a time COVID-19 is having a crippling effect on the national economy.

“When SPACES FOR CHANGE | S4C visited the community, displaced residents were seen hanging around the ruins of their former homes, trying to salvage what was left of their properties. A Gedegede community leader told S4C that an officer of the Nigerian Police Force, accompanied by officials of the Lagos State Environmental Task Force, visited the community on Tuesday, February 9, ordering them to move out of the area, without stating any timeline. Aboki Estate residents received no visits nor prior warnings.”

It added: “To their chagrin, a team of demolition officials stormed both communities hours later and began to tear down their homes. Residents were largely unaware of the specific agency responsible for the demolitions. Conflicting eye-witness accounts suggest that the demolitions were executed by the National Inland Water Ways Authority or the Lagos State Environmental Tasks Force, or both.”