Residents of the Okun Ajah community in Lagos State have oppossed what they described as the proposed diversion of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

They registered their displeasure with a protest at the Federal Ministry of Works headquarters in Lagos State on Thursday.

The residents, despite heavy rainfall, gathered to decry what they perceive as preferential treatment by the Minister of Works, David Umahi.

Brandishing placards with messages such as “Illegal construction on the right of way should not be encouraged” and “You promised us renewed hope; don’t punish us,” the protesters called on President Bola Tinubu and the National Assembly to investigate the diversion plans.

The protesters demanded adherence to the original road alignment established in 2006.

Some other placards read, “Lagos State has a master plan”; “Honourable Minister, no ethnic sentiment”; and “Keep to your words; You promised us renewed hope”; among several others.

According to the protesters, the minister promised the residents on national television that the old gazetted alignment of 2006 would be taken into consideration.

Speaking during the protest, the Akogun of Okun Ajah, Saeed Olukosi, described the planned diversion of the road in only Okun Ajah as a miscarriage of justice.

The community leader said, “Already, the houses that were built on the coastal road alignment had been identified and marked for demolition.

“But surprisingly, some days ago, the construction workers diverted to an entirely new area and started marking houses.

“We are shocked that the moneybags who violated the law by building illegally had gone to bribe some workers, and they left illegal buildings and diverted to our buildings, which we legally built,” he said.

Olukosi maintained that the protest was necessary because Tinubu and the presidency may not have been aware of this latest development, hence, the protest at the ministry.

“We understand that the presidency may not be aware of the illegality. That’s why we have come to notify them of these peaceful protests at the Federal Ministry of Work office in Lagos.

“The minister promised us to do the needful and administer justice. Let him investigate what we are saying and give us justice. This administration promised us renewed hope, so he should give us hope and not punish us,” he added.

Counsel for the residents of the town, Bolanle Olugbani, said, “We are here to protest the planned diversion in the right way.

“He (Umahi) assured us that the Federal Government would adhere to the old gazetted alignment.

“For over 30 years now, everyone buying land at Okun Ajah Community knows that a coastal road will pass through the community at some point in the future,” he said.

He added that they had conformed to the law, but some moneybags bought the property from the designated coastal road alignment.

“Lagos State had gazetted not to build on a coastal road; the minister is not above the law.

“The law today says the old alignment is where the coastal road should pass. The minister also said it at the stakeholder meeting.

“No amount of money and tribal sentiment should sway in. The minister knows what to do. The minister must not change from the old alignment,” he maintained.

However, the Federal Comptroller of Works, Lagos, Mrs Olukorede Kesha, who received the protesters, assured them that the minister was ready to look into their complaints.

She stated, “The minister has demonstrated several times that he is a listening person, and the government is also listening. The minister is not afraid to come to Lagos to see you again.”

“In fact, I have told him about you. He was in Lagos last Saturday, and he wanted me to call you on Sunday, but because of the Sallah festival, I told him you people would not come out and that we have to respect that day, and he said, ‘Okay.'”

She added, “I told him you are complaining and he promised to come back in a week, and I will invite you to bear your mind to him. He doesn’t look down on people; it’s impossible to please everyone.”

Kesha added that “nobody is saying justice should not be done. Whenever he comes, tell him what you want, and he will go back to the drawing board.”

Also speaking, a landlady in the town, Mrs Maimuna Usman-Ologunro, said, “We all heard him at the stakeholder meeting, where he said that the road would pass through the gazetted alignment.

“Why did his men come back to our community to mark our buildings, which are not built on the coastal road alignment?

“The minister should be a man of his word. He cannot continue to take us from one post to another; we have an alignment. We have the 2006 alignment during the regime of President Bola Tinubu when he was governor of the state.

“We bought our land and have our documents intact. I cannot lose my property for another person’s offences. We knew already that something was ongoing; that was why we are all here,” he added.

It will be recalled on June 15, the FG said it was withholding payment of compensation to affected property owners from Kilometer Seven on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project, due to alteration to the plan.

Umahi said this when he inspected ongoing works on Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and other road projects on the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Dangote Tax Credit Route and Eleko, among other axis, on Saturday in Lagos. (The PUNCH)

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