Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, on Tuesday, joined a high-powered delegation of lawmakers to visit the site of the demolished ASPAMDA Market at the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos, where plazas were pulled down despite traders having obtained the requisite approvals.
Obi was accompanied by Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Victor Umeh, Col. Austin Akobundu, and Tony Nwoye, as well as House of Representatives members Segun Sowonmi and George Adegeye. Also present were Labour Party’s Lagos State governorship candidate, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, and the National Coordinator of the Obidient Movement, Tanko Yunusa.
In a statement after the visit, Obi commended the affected traders for showing restraint and maintaining peace in the face of what he described as “painful loss and injustice.” He further appreciated the lawmakers who pledged to investigate the demolition and ensure accountability.
The former Anambra State governor urged governments at all levels to act with compassion and fairness, especially given that many of the traders had taken loans to finance their businesses. He noted that destroying legitimate investments without due process was “not only unjust but also economically destructive.”
Obi stressed that a nation aspiring to progress must protect enterprise, encourage productivity, and defend the dignity of its citizens, warning that “incidents like this have no place in a society that seeks fairness, stability, and shared prosperity.”
Speaking during the visit, Senator Victor Umeh described the demolition as “an unconscionable assault on hardworking Nigerians who invested their life savings in legitimate businesses.” He insisted that the matter would not be swept under the carpet, vowing that the National Assembly would take it up to ensure justice for the affected traders.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has defended the demolition of buildings at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, insisting the exercise was technical and not targeted at any ethnic group.
Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olumide Oluyinka, dismissed claims of ethnic victimisation during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.
“That is not true,” he argued, claiming that “We have been to Owode Onirin, Idumota, and Ikeja. It has no ethnic colouration. The fact is that we just have to do our work. There is nothing ethnic here; it is purely technical.”
Oluyinka stressed that Lagos State had carried out similar enforcement actions in other parts of the state.
“There has been a series of enforcement carried out on Lagos Island. I personally led a team that even touched the palace of a white cap chief. This is Nigeria for all of us. The facts are clear; when you are in a place, you must live by the law of that place. It is as simple as that,” he said.
The commissioner said the Trade Fair Management compounded the problem by leasing land to private developers without following due process.
“What we have seen is a situation where the management is leasing out land to third parties who bring in their own consultants and contractors to build without recourse to the law.
“That day, we showed them that there was no meaningful layout there. We saw a three-storey building just two feet from the road kerb. When you open the shop doors, they swing over the road. Do you want to tell me a serious architect designed that? That cannot be possible,” he explained.
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