LAGOS- Some police officers’ wives and other traders, owners of shops at the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) Shopping Complex, Computer Village, Ikeja, have protested against a planned demolition of the complex.
They carried out a peaceful protest on Thursday in Ikeja after the complex was allegedly sealed by the state government to pave the way for the demolition.
The officers’ wives and traders had earlier raised alarm over the alleged plan by a group of persons parading themselves as policemen and using the name of the wife of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Elizabeth Egbetokun, to demolish the complex.
A senior police officer allegedly connived with a property developer to displace thousands of traders, including police officers’ wives trading at the complex.
Tobechuwku Maxwell, the immediate past chairman of the complex, expressed sadness over the proposed demolition, stressing that the complex was feeding thousands of families, including police officers.
Mr Maxwell called on Mrs Egbetokun, who is the POWA president, to intervene and disallow the impostors from carrying out their sinister motive.
He also appealed to the IGP to use his good offices to put a stop to the demolition and fish out those behind the illegality for prosecution.
“We are appealing to him to help us. We are law-abiding traders trying to eke out a living. If we are pushed out of the market, thousands of us will lose our means of livelihood and those who depend on us will also suffer.
“The plaza is owned by widows of former police officers and serving officers. In 2019, the complex was marked for demolition, and when we inquired from Abuja, we were told that a developer who was desperate to have access to the complex was the one making an effort to chase us out of the complex.
“Unlike 2019, when we got a notice of demolition, now we were only told to move out. We are hearing from the grapevine that the developer and others wanted to pull the building down unaware and vandalise our various goods worth billions of naira,” he said.
Abisola Azeez, the Iyaloja of Computer Village, said when the complex was being built, she was part of those who funded it
Mrs Azeez pointed out that only God had kept them in the complex up till now, as different people always harassed them whenever a new IGP came in.
She noted that the agreement they had with the developers was 10 years, stressing that they were yet to reach the years agreed upon.
“We have been keeping the place neat, paint, we got the transformer by ourselves, we did everything by ourselves. We have developed the complex into a befitting plaza. Surprisingly, I don’t know why they want to dislodge us all and bring new people.
“They shouldn’t use Lagos officials to chase us out. The only time we got notice of demolition was from one property developer and that turned out to be a lie. If they want increments, we can sit down and discuss it.
“The IGP should help us; demolishing the building would be bad for us, given how far we have gone to keep and maintain their building for them all these while,” she said.
The current chairman of Computer Dealers Association, Tayo Shittu, said some people were hiding under the guise of being sent by IGP’s wife to demolish the complex.
“We are patriotic Nigerians. We pay our taxes and we also pay our rent regularly. We were told the IGP’s wife gave them two months to finish their work and leave the complex.
“A similar incident occurred exactly four years ago when a group of persons came and claimed that the then IGP’s wife sent them to demolish the complex, which turned out to be a lie.
“In order to perfect their act, they brought someone who claimed to be an official of the Lagos State Ministry of Works to measure the whole complex on July 30, 2023, when nobody was around.
“Our investigation showed that they were fake,” he noted.
The chairman appealed to the IGP’s wife to come to their help, as a mother, and save them and the police officers’ wives from moving into the empty labour market.
A source from the police headquarters annexe, Moloney Obalende, Lagos, told journalists anonymously that the police authority was meeting with the Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Adegoke Fayoade, over the issue.(NAN)
