MAGODO RESIDENTS SEEK SANWO-OLU’S INTERVENTION OVER THREATS BY LAND GRABBERS THROUGH WETLAND
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Residents of the Magodo GRA Phase II Estate in Lagos on Thursday, sent a Save Our Souls and Properties message to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, following the invasion of the estate and the threat to their safety and security due to incessant forceful access by unauthorised persons to the wetlands around the estate.
The residents disclosed that land speculators and developers aided by top officials of Lagos State Physical Planning and Urban Development have decided on building the wetland and they are bent on making an incursion therein through Magodo Phase II, noting that the plan is a direct threat to the environment, safety and security of a community with over 16,000 residents, who have lived peacefully and secured in the estate for more than three decades.
The residents, therefore, called for Governor Sanwo-Olu’s urgent intervention “to forestall the breakdown of law and order in the estate and the state, which some people aided by the Commissioner for Physical Planning, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide; and the Chairperson of Ikosi Isheri Local Government, Mrs Samiat Abolanle Bada; who are top Lagos State Government functionaries, appear set to ignite for reasons best known to them.”
The Magodo GRA Phase II Estate Residents Association made the appeal to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Thursday during a press conference addressed by its Chairman, Engr. Sheriff Daramola, in the company of the Board of Trustees, Central Consultative Council, Central Management Council, executive members and residents of the estate.
Daramola implored the Lagos State Government to desist from any plan to build link roads to the wetland through Magodo Phase II Estate but instead construct a road from the Otedola underpass which is currently free of development and unencumbered.
He disclosed that in the last six months, residents had experienced serial vandalisation of vehicles, theft cases and criminal activities as a result of exposure to the wetland by land speculators and developers who were bent on making an incursion therein through the Estate.
Daramola, who commended Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab, for his recent visit to Magodo Phase II where he emphasised the significance of the wetland and its implications for development, wondered why the Commissioner for Physical Planning, Dr. Oluyinka Olumide, wants land speculators and developers to have access to the wetland through Magodo Estate.
He said: “We commend Mr. Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for his unwavering support and commitment to his promises not to allow access through the wetlands from Magodo Phase II in our tripartite meeting in the past and in his support to ensure continuous peace in our Magodo Phase II community and Lagos State as a whole.
“Mr. Governor, sir, we have those that are warming up to distort and destroy the peace and harmony we enjoy in Magodo Phase II; to add to the security concerns in the estate and Lagos State by forcefully planning to access the wetland through Magodo Phase II despite alternative routes listed outside Magodo Phase II. Accessing the wetland through Magodo Phase II shall create further damage and shall be colossal.”
Speaking during the press conference, former Lagos State Commissioner for TPL Francisco Abosede, who is a resident in the Magodo GRA Phase II Estate, said the wetland amongst other ecological benefits served as a natural storm collector and flood control container for all stormwater from Agidingbi, Ikeja, Ogba, Alausa, as it had also shielded Magodo from soil erosion, …
[PHOTOS:
From left: Mr. Steve Ayorinde; former Commissioner for Information & Strategy and Residence member of Magodo, GRA, Mr. Joseph Olofinsola; Chairman, C.C.C, Engr. Sheriff Daramola; Chairman, Mangodo Residents Association and Prof. Kayode Denloye, Chairman, Magodo Board of Trustees, during the Press Conference to prevent Access to and from wetland from Magodo GRA Phase lI, TAG: Save Our Soul held in Magodo, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos.
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