The 2023 presidential candidate for Labour Party, Peter Obi, has urged the Lagos State government to temper enforcement with mercy in its demolition of structures.

This comes after he visited the site of the demolished ASPAMDA Market at the Trade Fair Complex, in Lagos, which he criticised and described the razing of traders’ plazas as a test of the State’s commitment to justice and human dignity.

Obi, in a post made via his X account yesterday, recounted an experience in the UK, where he had to follow due process to evict squatters from a property he owned.

He contrasted this with the situation in Lagos, where he said the state demolished properties without regard for human dignity.

“It would have been unthinkable for the state to simply wake up one morning and demolish people’s houses,” he said.

The former Governor of Anambra State argued that the law should serve as a means to ensure order, peace, and protection of human dignity, not as an instrument to inflict pain.

He questioned the proportionality of the demolition, citing the destruction of billions of naira worth of investments and livelihoods. “It is like punishing a man who stole a bicycle with death instead of imprisonment,” he said.

Obi appealed to the government to exercise compassion and empathy in governance saying, “Governance must always balance law with compassion. A government should not pride itself on being legally correct if, in the process, it becomes morally wrong.”

He emphasised that justice must be tempered with mercy and that the true character of leadership is revealed in how it treats the vulnerable.

Last week, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, had said Obi launched into emotional theatrics when he described the incident as “a test of impunity, justice and compassion.”

The Commissioner had justified the demolition as constitutional, noting that the affected traders got ample time to regularise their papers when the state government declared a general amnesty last year, which was extended several times. (This Day)