Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway: “We wont relinquish our property”-Lafiaji residents tell Umahi

Property owners and residents of Lafiaji, a community in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State, have again appealed to President Bola Tinubu to direct the Minister of Works, David Umahi, to revert to the original gazetted alignment for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal highway project.

The 700-kilometre highway spanning nine coastal states has been criticised by Lagos residents whose properties were marked for demolition, including the Landmark Beach in Victoria Island, Lagos.

In May, owners of over 80 houses in Lafiaji received demolition notices from the Federal Ministry of Works and the Lagos State government, stating that their properties encroached on the designated alignment.

However, the residents kicked against the notices, saying an alignment for the coastal road was established as far back as 2006, and they ensured that their properties did not encroach on the designated alignment, thereby avoiding potential conflicts with the planned coastal road construction.

At a press conference on Tuesday, the residents alleged that Mr Umahi deviated from the original right of way to favour Ocean Bay Estates and other high-end properties, despite President Tinubu’s instructions to revert to the old alignment.

They claim that Mr Umahi’s actions demonstrate nepotism, as he spared estates of owners with strong political connections while targeting their homes for demolition.

“From our findings, the Honourable Minister has found it challenging to follow the presidential directive in the Lafiaji Area. We discovered that amongst some huge housing estates that allegedly have sprung up illicitly on the long-established Right of Way are Ocean Bay Estate and others.

“The developers of these Estates and some of the owners-occupiers of buildings therein are alleged to have strong political connections, ethnic ties, and social links with the powers that be. Therefore, the Honourable Minister of Works, in an unabashed display of nepotism, as alleged, ‘ruled’ that the property and buildings in these estates are too valuable to be demolished and that demolishing them would attract huge compensation from the Federal Government.

“In consequence, it is being alleged that the Honourable Minister of Works directed that the Right of Way be altered away from the established path and the said estates, and that this new alignment be made through our lands which were never established as the original Right of Way.

“We cannot understand why our legal rights and interests must be sacrificed to please violators of the long-established Right of Way, whose illegally constructed property (houses) can be demolished and removed without any compensation whatsoever, and with justification,” they said in a statement read at the conference.

While expressing their unflinching support for executing the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway Project by the long-established Right of Way, the residents reiterated their request for President Tinubu to protect and uphold their legal rights and interests.

They questioned why law-abiding citizens are penalised while violators who built on the established right of way are favoured.

“We cannot understand why our legal rights and interests must be sacrificed to please violators of the long-established Right of Way, whose illegally constructed property (houses) can be demolished and removed without any compensation whatsoever and with justification.

“ Why are we- the law-abiding citizens being rewarded with oppression, while violators, who knowingly and arrogantly built on the long-established Right of Way, are being treated with reverence?”

On 26th August, Federal Ministry of Works officials visited the Lafiaji community to enumerate affected houses marked for demolition, further escalating tensions.