Community leaders and displaced residents gathered on Wednesday at the Ikeja Under-Bridge area in Lagos to protest the ongoing demolitions and alleged forced evictions in waterfront and low-income communities, including Makoko, Owode Onirin, and Oworonshoki.<\/p>\n
The demonstrators accused the Lagos State Government of conducting demolitions without proper notice, compensation, or resettlement plans for affected residents.<\/p>\n
The protesters occupied key sections of the under-bridge, capturing the attention of commuters and motorists along the busy Ikeja corridor.<\/p>\n
They carried banners and placards with messages such as \u201cStop\u00a0Forced Evictions Now,\u201d \u201cMakoko Lives Matter,\u201d \u201cDemolition Without Resettlement Is Injustice,\u201d \u201cUrban Renewal, Not Urban Removal,\u201d \u201cHomes Not Rubble,\u201d and \u201cHousing Is a Human Right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other signs read: \u201cWhere Do You Want the Poor to Go?\u201d \u201cLagos Is for All, Not the Rich Alone,\u201d \u201cRespect Court Orders,\u201d and \u201cDevelopment Without Displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some protesters also displayed photographs of demolished homes and displaced families, while others held placards showing children and elderly persons allegedly affected by the demolitions.<\/p>\n
Chanting slogans and solidarity songs, the crowd repeatedly urged Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to halt further demolitions and engage affected communities in dialogue. Popular chants included \u201cNo Justice, No Peace,\u201d \u201cMakoko Is Not a Slum,\u201d and \u201cConsult the People.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists, some activists described the demolitions as \u201cinhumane\u201d and in violation of court rulings restraining forced evictions in waterfront communities.<\/p>\n
They claimed that many residents were rendered homeless overnight, with families forced to sleep in canoes, under bridges, and in open spaces following the destruction of their homes.<\/p>\n
The protesters emphasised that communities like Makoko, Owode Onirin, and Oworonshoki have existed for decades and should be upgraded through proper urban planning rather than destroyed.<\/p>\n
They vowed to continue demonstrations until the government meets their demands, including halting demolitions, providing relief materials, offering compensation, and implementing humane resettlement policies for affected residents.<\/p>\n
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Community leaders and displaced residents gathered on Wednesday at the Ikeja Under-Bridge area in Lagos to protest the ongoing demolitions and alleged forced evictions in waterfront and low-income communities, including Makoko, Owode Onirin, and Oworonshoki. The demonstrators accused the Lagos State Government of conducting demolitions without proper notice, compensation, or resettlement plans for affected residents. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":240508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[193,1311],"class_list":["post-240507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-lagos","tag-protest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/G_ve2D_WsAAct8O.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}