#OtodoGbame: Woman injured, 4 arrested, 30000 stranded as Lagos task force invade waterfront community
At least 30,000 Nigerians, many of them children, face homelessness after state task force tried to demolish their settlement in Otodo Gbame, Eti-Osa local government area of Lagos.
A woman was hurt to bloodiness as armed police descended on the shanti settlement while residents prepared for church this morning.
Actions of Lagos state govt @followlasg are putting #OtodoGbame residents into more and more suffering. #Nigeria: is it a crime to be poor?
— Amnesty Int. Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) March 26, 2017
Reports say residents, many of them women, who protested against the intended demolition of their homes, were beaten by Lagos Task Force officers.
UPDATE: Lagos Task Force, security forces & swamp buggy turned back after bullets & teargas failed to disperse #OtodoGbame brave residents
— JEI (@justempower) March 26, 2017
5 women severely beaten, 1 baby hit on head with stone, 8 residents arrested & taken away by Lagos State Task Force #OtodoGbame
— JEI (@justempower) March 26, 2017
The officers also reportedly fired teargas at the citizens they were rendering homeless.
Otodo Gbame got into trouble with the government after a fire ravaged the community last November. When residents tried to rebuild, the government ordered them to leave saying the entire settlement was unsafe. At least 30,000 people, many of them children were displayed in the first demolition wave.
Residents dragged Lagos to court but Govenor Akinwunmi Ambode said he would not be blackmailed into failing to protest the less privileged. He said Otodo Gbame had to be demolished for the sake of public safety.
Betty Abah, executive director CEE-HOPE, a non-governmental organization, was shocked at the government’s logic.
“Tell me that a state like Lagos is concerned about children, especially, the poorest and most vulnerable and I tell you a capital NO,” Abah told Cable in an article published on March 22, the day state task force returned to the settlement.
HAPPENING NOW: this peaceful protest has been going on for over an hour now #OtodoGbame #SaveTheWaterfronts #LagosDemolitions @ayosogunro pic.twitter.com/ssN9p8qlR9
— JEI (@justempower) March 22, 2017
“While Lagos is putting its 2007 child’s right law and the recent child protection policy in the show glass to impress the world, the same Lagos has no qualms burning down slum communities in the middle of the night, drowning their children, throwing them into the streets via its callous and barbaric eviction policies.
“How can you speak of protecting children, yet consciously and consistently endanger the very existence of the most fragile members of your constituency even after a clear injunction from your own courts?”
Gov @AkinwunmiAmbode, study history. Ur greatest legacy is show benevolence to d poor. If u lose ur humanity, u lose legitimacy.#OtodoGbame pic.twitter.com/kKYyTq9Ru5
— Betty Abah #BringBackOurGirls 6 yrs on! (@bettyabah) March 22, 2017
