Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the state administration will not hesitate to demolish houses that violate the state’s planning rules.
“There are some officers of this government that their houses went down,” the governor said at a media parley on Thursday.
Last year, demolition of buildings resumed in Lagos with the state government and the Federal Housing Authority pulling down structures in Ikota, Lekki, Alaba, Ajao Estate, Abule Ado, Ladipo Market, and other areas of the state.
The buildings demolished were said to have contravened the master plan of the city and built on drainage channels with the exercise making hundreds of families homeless.
But Sanwo-Olu said the houses demolished contravened the state’s planning laws and contributed to flooding in the state.
“We are not being emotional; we are being factual. It has nothing to do with ethnicity but doing what is right,” he said.
“The right things to be done are difficult things sometimes; they are the things that will appear unpopular but it is to keep the state safe for all.
“People deliberately built on the right of way for drainage canals. Lagos is below sea level. So, those waters have to go, come back, and go back again.
“There are some officers of this government that their houses went down. It has to go. We are not out to take the entire four bedrooms; if it is one room that contravenes, you can reconstruct and have three rooms.
“What I can assure you is that nobody will or willingly be attacked by virtue of race, gender, colour, ethnicity. That I can put on the table, and say that please if you know of any, I will be the first to apologise and make amends immediately,” the governor stated.