The Ekuti, Olumoye, Oniwonlu, and Abejoye Royal families of Akodo Kingdom in Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos have staged a peaceful demonstration at the site of a dredging in the creek beside the Lekki Free Trade Zone.
They sang various songs and held placards such as, “Stop Dredging Our Land,” “Be Conscious of Ocean Surge and Lagoon Flood,” Farming and Fishing, Our Major Occupation,” Think of Our Land. Think of Our Generation, Supermarine Services Ltd,” “Our Farmland, Our Pride. Stop Reducing Our Land,” among others.
The families said that dredging of the creek to provide solid land within the Lekki Free Trade Zone was an abuse of the human and environmental rights and as they could no longer farm nor fish.
They said the sea was just about a kilometer from the creek being dredged and the entire Akodo Kingdom stood the risk of flooding beside depriving the people of their source of living.
A leader of the demonstrators from the Amure family of Makio Village, Akodo, Ashimiu Agbaje said the action of the company, Supermarine Services Ltd was without any notice to the land owners and without any documents from the Lagos state government authorizing the dredging.
“This is Makio Village land. Just of recent we saw some bulldozers on our land. So, we tried to stop them. Later on they came back and said they were going to arrest us. At the end of the day, they did not arrest us but they now said we should go to Free Zone, Lekki Worldwide. We had several meetings with them but till today no compensation given to us,” said Agbaje.
Another prominent member of the Amure family of Makio Village, Shakirudeen Aiyeola said the police intervention from Akodo Police Station did not yield the desired results.
“The DPO that time said the two lawyers should consult and resolve the matter and he would call us for settlement, and we left. But our lawyer expected them, but they were not forthcoming until our lawyer wrote a petition against them. They now sent a letter to our lawyer that it was the Lagos State Government that sent them to the land and that if we want anything we should go and face the state government.
“If Lagos State Government wants to work on any land, we know that they would consult the owner of the land. I know they will do that. Our lawyer sent another petition letter to the Lagos State House of Assembly and the Assembly said they should gather themselves and call us for a meeting. When we were there, some people came and started saying there is no more Makio Village and they don’t know Makio. This place is Akodo side. It is Makio and we don’t know those people,” explained Aiyeola.
He said Hon. Abiodun Tobun, who represented Speaker Mudashiru Obasa to receive them at the Assembly said that the allegation by rhe counter protesters that there wass no Makio Village in Akodo would be investigated and the matter would be resolved.
Aiyeola said the company had continued to dredge the creek at the detriment of the people and their livelihood, as well as, to create a fair accompli situation on the community whereby the action would be irreversible and no compensation paid.
The Head of the Amure Family, Sulaimon Adewale appealed to the government for help over the matter to prevent future crisis.
One of the protesting women, Funmilayo Adedeji from the Ekuti family, said the land was their ancestral home handed over from generations and the action of the company was unfair and unjust to them and the environment.
“See the way they spoil our land. We can’t even plant anything there. This is the land our parents used to train us. But now nobody can plant anything or fish there. We want our land back. We are begging our governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to fight for us. Even to eat is now a problem. Do they want us to steal?” said Funmilayo.
A youth leader, Sulaimon Balogun called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to intervene in the matter.
“This is our only resource in the community. This is the o Le land we have. This land also we use it for farming and fishing. Now we don’t have any access to our land again because they usually chase us away from the land.
“You can see from here to the sea is about 1,200 meters. Anything can happen to the community. We all here of the flood in Borno State. We don’t want the same thing to happen in our community, and that’s why we are calling on the governor to assist us. We want the dredging to stop before this place becomes flooded. Even Dangote Refinery is not safe if the place is flooded. It has already happened in Lekuro and Apakin villages where my grandma’s place was flooded and nothing is there now. We don’t have any power to fight anybody.
A former chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Ibeju Lekki area, Alhaji Adekunle Balogun, said the situation was of grave concern to the families in Akodo because some nearby communities, namely Apakin, Lekuro, It’s Marun and Idowu were already flooded.
He said, “My request from the government is that they should help this our community, Akodo to stop the dredging happening over there. We don’t want what is happening in some communities to have here. All this dredging cause trouble with flooding. See the flooding in Apakin, Lekuro, Ita Marun and Idotu. We don’t want it in Akodo.”
Alhaji Balogun appealed to the Lagos State Government to heed the call of the people and stop the dredging or provide measures to prevent flooding and compensate the land owners for taking over and destroying their ancestral property.
Efforts to speak to officials of Supermarine Services Ltd proved abortive as they were not at the site office at the time of the peaceful demonstration while workers continued to do their job.
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