Landlords and residents at Ikota slum, in the Lekki area of Lagos State, have been thrown into panic as officials suspected to be working with the state government alongside men of the state police command have been demolishing structures in the area.
PUNCH Metro gathered that the affected victims, in a bid to protect their property, protested against the action but the policemen, in an attempt to disperse them, allegedly fired bullets to scare the demonstrators.
A resident in the area, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the property marked were illegal structures, adding that the government was demolishing it for an urban renewal project.
The resident said, “Most of the victims are the people who built their property at the location illegally. Where they built their property was not allocated to them by the government. They just came into the community, probably gave somebody money and just built their property without appropriate documentation.
“The police have been shooting sporadically. It appears that they are trying to ward off protesters from preventing the demolition exercise. Most of the victims there are known as Maroko resettlement; they were resettled at three locations including Ikota.
“As the demolition is ongoing, policemen have been shooting sporadically and as they are demolishing, they are sand-filling at the same time.”
Efforts to get a reaction from the state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, proved abortive.
