Former Anambra State Governor and Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has urged government authorities to temper the enforcement of laws with compassion in handling issues affecting citizens, particularly in the wake of recent demolitions at Aspamda Market in Lagos.
In a statement titled “Lagos Demolitions: Law, Justice, and Compassion”, Obi recalled his recent visit to the site of the demolished market alongside a team of concerned leaders, noting that reactions following the exercise have revealed a worrying erosion of empathy among Nigerians.
According to him, “The situation calls for deep reflection on the relationship between law, justice, and compassion in governance.”
Obi narrated a personal experience from the 1990s when he purchased a house at 66 Donnington Road, NW10, in the United Kingdom. During renovation, some squatters moved into the property. On consulting his lawyer, he was advised to seek legal redress rather than resort to force or destruction. He said it would have been “unthinkable for the state to simply wake up one morning and demolish people’s houses—especially when such houses were neither used for crime nor taken for any overriding public purpose.”
He criticised attempts to justify the Lagos demolitions and similar actions across the country, stressing that “the law is not an end in itself; it is a means to ensure order, peace, and the protection of human dignity.” When applied without compassion, he said, the law ceases to serve justice.
“Even if, for the sake of argument, some of the affected traders failed to obtain proper approvals, which is unlikely, was demolition the only option?” he queried. “Does it truly serve justice to destroy billions of naira worth of investments and livelihoods when less destructive remedies could have sufficed?”
Obi likened the demolitions to “punishing a man who stole a bicycle with death instead of imprisonment—a sentence grossly disproportionate to the offence.”
He therefore appealed for a humane approach to governance, asserting that being “legally correct” should not translate to being “morally wrong.” True justice, he said, must always be tempered with mercy.
“These demolitions are a test of our collective humanity, justice, and compassion,” Obi concluded. “Power must always be exercised with empathy—for it is in how we treat the vulnerable that the true character of leadership is revealed.
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