The Lagos State Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotoso, said on Wednesday that the state government follows due process when tearing down any structure.
The commissioner made this known in a chat with The PUNCH when quizzed on the claims made by the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, on the demolition of his brother’s property in the Ikeja area of Lagos.
“We follow the law in Lagos State. No building can be removed without due process,” Omotoso said.
He asked to find out from his colleagues about the demolition and get back to our correspondent.
“Let me ask my colleagues and get back to you,” he said.
He was, however, yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.
In a post on his official X handle late Tuesday, Obi alleged that a property belonging to his younger brother was demolished in Lagos without legal backing.
Obi said the property, owned by his brother’s company, had stood for over 15 years before it was brought down.
He alleged that the demolition was carried out by unidentified persons acting on a vague court judgment that did not mention his brother, the property, or contain any demolition order.
He said, “This morning, my youngest brother called me frantically, informing me that a group of people had invaded his company property in Ikeja, Lagos, and were demolishing the building.
“He had just come in from Port Harcourt and was denied entry to the property by security men who told him the building was being pulled down.”
Obi described the entire episode as “coordinated lawlessness,” lamenting what he saw as Nigeria’s descent into a state of impunity.
“I stood there from 10 am to 2 pm, waiting to get a call from whoever ordered the demolition. Nobody came. The contractor didn’t even know who sent him.
“Two men later came and said they would like us to go to a police station. I asked if they even had a demolition order, but they had nothing. The whole situation screamed of coordinated lawlessness and impunity. Our country has become lawless,” he said.
The Lagos State Building Control Agency and the Lagos State Physical Planning Permit Authority denied involvement in the demolition.
When contacted on Wednesday, LABSCA spokesperson, Adu Ademuyiwa, said, “We are not the one who demolished the house; it is not from us.”
LASPPPA’s spokesperson, Abimbola Edmin-Umeh, said she did not know about the demolition.
“I don’t know. I didn’t follow them on enforcement, but we don’t demolish. So I cannot say. Those people who go on monitoring are not yet around. And if the person (Obi) who said it, can show us the paper – maybe contravention notices – to show us which agency it is, then maybe I’ll be able to look into it,” she added in a telephone interview.
According to her, several agencies could carry out demolition depending on the agency carrying out such enforcement, based on the type of contravention levied against the property.