Residents of Balogun Extension, in Iwaya a Lagos suburb, were rendered homeless owing to the demolition of their buildings over the weekend, by the Lagos State government, yesterday, lamented that they had been sleeping in the open since the demolition exercise. The demolition which occurred barely 48 hours after the corpse of a four-year-old girl was found in a shrine around the area, had a combination of security personnel from the military and police on standby, to avoid any likely resistance from the residents or attack on operators of bulldozers used for the exercise. Vanguard learnt that there had been a contention between the community leaders and management of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, over the land.
Residents lamented that they did not receive a notification on the demolition. Miss Chioma Uwandu, a human rights activist, and founder of Impact Her Initiative, IHI, alleged that security agents who provided cover for operators of the bulldozers fired tear gas at the affected occupants during the exercise.
Meanwhile, a top management staff of UNILAG, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, insisted that the community leaders had been served notices severally but that they called their bluff.
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