Governor Babatunde Fashola is not too young to have known or learnt of how many Lagosian households were decently and respectably relocated by the then colonial government in the 1950s, from the slums and shanties of Lagos Island to the New Lagos Settlement (present day Surulere). That laudable but abandoned precedent remains unattainable, in comparison with ...
the way and manner modern-day residents of Makoko and Iwaya waterfront in Yaba were forcibly evicted recently by the Lagos State Government, from their abode which they and their ancestors had inhabited for over 100 years. Confirmed reports say the Lagos State Government embarked on this junta-like operation on 16 July, 2012, upon the expiration of barely 72 hours’ notice served on the hapless Makoko residents, following which their houses, shanties and all other belongings were utterly demolished and destroyed. During the dastardly operation which was reminiscent of Nigeria’s lawless military era, one of the chiefs of the Makoko Community called Timothy, was also shot and killed by loose and gun-trotting Policemen who teamed-up with the Lagos State Government (LASG) on that infamous mission. A similar anti-people operation also took place sometime ago in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where Governor Chibuike Amaechi forcibly evicted the Abonema Water-side residents without an option of resettlement or adequate compensation. These gross insensitive occurrences evoke a lot of curiosity about the necessity, responsibility and significance of a government in a given political setting.
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola
It’s noteworthy that sequel to the instant operation, the Lagos State Governor waited for the displaced, aggrieved and bereaved residents of Makoko to first come on a protest march to Alausa, before bothering to explain the rationale (if any) behind the mayhem. Not even the fact that an unarmed innocent Nigerian citizen was recklessly cut down at his prime during that obnoxious operation drew any remorse from the Governor as assuagement for the victim’s family or his victimized Community. We believe a responsible and responsive government would have approached such a matter with enough care and empathy for its concerned citizens. This would most importantly, entail a resettlement arrangement (even if ad hoc) being put in place to facilitate the desired relocation. Or does the LASG suddenly lack the capacity to put such an arrangement in place for its down-trodden citizens? A concerned commentator rightly wondered why government officials who charter flights to the UK just to watch a Manchester United football match, and/or, fly in Rio Ferdinand to Lagos on a jamboree tour (all at great costs to Lagos tax payers), would now embark on such insensitive and inhuman mission to displace and hurt the people with relish. This is clearly the height of callousness and arrogance in governance.
The point must be made here that the Maroko residents were treated with disdain and criminal indignity. Many sane Nigerians continue to wonder why Governor Fashola, even in the face of such executive arbitrariness and the resultant inhuman and degrading treatment against the Maroko people, appeared cocky and haughty while responding to their protests. The question to Governor Fashola is: how feasible and/or realizable is your directive to an entire Community of over 1000 people to, within 72 hours, vacate their only ancestral heritage and relocate to NOWHERE?
If such ill treatment had been meted out to Nigerians living in a cluster in, say, United Kingdom, Ghana, South Africa or elsewhere, we all, including our governments, would have cried blue murder, besides attributing it to a motive of racism and hatred for Nigerians by those countries. The awry aspect of this saga is that we have shot ourselves in the leg, as other countries watch our governments mistreat and oppress Nigerians with impunity and brazenness, events which they will definitely cite to us in future, in order to counter any complaint against likely ignominious acts or maltreatment against Nigerians abroad.
The plank of my position on this matter must not be misconstrued or confused with the responsibility of government to protect the ecological environment of its territory for posterity. Yes, I believe government must always do what is right for its people and for society. However, good and responsive governance would neither oppress and subjugate a people, nor incur such wanton collateral damage even for the most altruistic of purposes. I have tried to find some justification for this incident by considering Governor Fashola’s banal explanation in favour of protecting the lagoon and the environment and even the Makoko people too. Unfortunately, none of those belated explanations seems to suffice. What is the environment without humanity? In other words, how safe can the environment be, when those inhabiting it are held down to bestial limits? Which comes first: environment or humanity? It is in doubt that a people whose economic and social well-being are well catered to will in turn look after and protect the environment, better than any government fiat or regulation?
I recall that such commando operation last occurred in Lagos during the regime of then Col. Raji Rasaki who, as Military Governor of Lagos State, forcibly evacuated and dispersed residents of the then Maroko (a former slum of Victoria Island), under similar excuses as currently advanced by Governor Fashola and his Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, only for the entire land mass to be taken up and subsequently shared amongst privileged elites whose now erected mansions, palatial edifices and sky scrappers adorn that landscape today. With this untoward experience of the hoi polloi in the hands of Nigerian rulers, it becomes inexcusable if I fail to admonish the Lagos State Government now against a recurrence. I earnestly hope this operation is not conterminous with a twisted but hidden motive to benefit certain powerful interests subsequently. The society watch-dogs shall be watching and shall conclude so if any private bourgeois architecture or high-rise resorts begin to spring up at the Makoko waterfront in the near future.
Finally, it is incomprehensible that our myriad of Civil Society Organisations, particularly those who claim to advocate for social and economic rights of the lumpen class of Nigerians (and usually receive numerous undisclosed sums by way of donations and funding, both locally and internationally) could not generate any or sufficient protests to pressurize the LASG to act in sync with responsibility and the rule of law, on this matter. They clearly let the Makoko residents down when it mattered most.
Written by - Emeka Ibe
Attorney @ Lawville Associates Lagos Nigeria
