Lagos mudslide: After shanti demolition, resident blames “fool” who called emergency number
A resident of Kuata community, in Ikeja, Lagos State said the government wouldn’t have demolished their homes had someone not reported a deadly mudslide in the area to the authorities.
The mudslide resulted in the death of teenage wife Faizan Muritala. She was 16.
But Sunday Idris, a resident was more interested in the matter not getting out. He told NewsroomNG:
“It was one of us that called them. I don’t know why some people are very foolish. Who doesn’t know the emergency numbers? Why would he have called them to come and see what’s happening here? Did the government award him for calling them to give information? See what he has caused now. Where do they expect people to stay? Those of us working here, what will happen to us now?”
Please don’t hide emergencies from Lagos authorities. Call 112 or 767 now.
The government said the shanti community was illegal and dangerous. Structures erected in the area, about 40 of them, were demolished on Tuesday.
One Iya Tola, who doesn’t live in the area, told our correspondent:
“The rain caused this. The ground is made up of clay so because of the rain that had been falling since last week, the floor lifted the ground and it came crashing on their houses. And because she (Faizan) was new in the area she didn’t know what to do.”
Francis, another person affected said, “that place where someone died is a canal, it’s those Hausa people that turned it to houses.”
“We don’t know what will happen to us now, if the government decides to send us away from here. We have been working here for the past three years after the government sent us away from First Gate.
“There will no place for us to work if we are sent away from here again,” complained Francis.
Kuata shanti community contained a nice mixture of Yorubas, Igbos, Hausas and other tribes living, and working, together peacefully. But it stood in sharp contrast to surrounding buildings which portray a good picture of how well Ikeja, the capital of Lagos, is developed.
We gathered most of the Hausas who live in the area came from Borno State after Boko Haram destroyed their homes.
