People Are Going Through Extra-Hardship, Stop Demolishing Their Properties — Obi Tells Lagos Govt, Others

The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has told the Lagos State government and others demolishing properties across the country to put an end to it as Nigerians are already experiencing extra-hardship.

He said with extreme poverty in the land which has confined many Nigerians to a multidimensional poverty level, governments should look for ways to alleviate the suffering of the people instead of subjecting them to another round of hardship.

There have been demolition exercises in Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory, Ogun State among others which have caused tension and ignited discussion on whether such demolitions are ethnically targeted.

In Lagos especially, discussion on social media has focussed on the number of properties owned by southeasterners that the administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu has demolished.

He has been accused of carrying out vendetta over the conduct of the 2023 presidential and governorship elections in which the All Progressives Congress, APC, lost the presidential election to Obi’s Labour Party and narrowly won the governorship election.

The demolition exercise in Lagos began soon after the conduct of the elections which was immediately seen within the prism of ethnicity.

However, making his feelings known on Thursday in a statement he posted on X, the former Anambra State Governor, who is a south easterner said, “It’s with complete despondency and unhappiness that I have followed the ongoing demolitions of properties across the country, especially knowing the extra hardship such acts have been heaping on hapless citizens who are already battling with multi-dimensional Poverty.

“What a responsive government should be doing under the current harsh economic conditions in the country is to come up with measures aimed at alleviating the people’s hardships and to carry out measures that will take more people out of poverty.

“Even if there are some violations as the governments are claiming, this critical time is not auspicious for such an exercise knowing the hardship in the land and the consequences it will have on the poor who are struggling to make ends meet with their little resources,” Obi said.

The former vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, added that, “The poor in our midst who are putting their meagre resources are going through very severe financial stress that should not be multiplied further.

“In some cases, the properties being demolished are the lifetime savings and retirement abodes of the aged and incapacitated.

“My appeal therefore is for the respective governments involved in this act to consider the hardship in the country and try to put a human face to their actions.

“While we should enforce sensible regulations, all actions of the government must show compassion,” Obi said.