Human Rights Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has mentioned the choice of the Lagos State Authorities to take away the road gates in Lekki Section 1 is unwise.
Adegboruwa, in a press release on Sunday, mentioned he recalled that the road fences had been put in by residents to guard themselves from the “inflow of criminals and road urchins” within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 #EndSARS protests.
He mentioned the tearing down of the gates had uncovered residents and known as on the federal government to step up safety measures.
The SAN mentioned: “Within the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the EndSARS protests, Lekki Section 1 witnessed an unprecedented inflow of criminals and road urchins, who preyed on helpless residents to loot their properties. The one folks spared this invasion had been those that had put in road gates on the entrance to their residential areas. This inspired different residents to develop the concept of road gates.
“The second purpose behind the road fences is the massive inflow of business entities, cart pushers, road urchins, itinerant skilled beggars and environmental polluters.”
He acknowledged that residents of the world had been given written permission by the state authorities to erect fences within the space, including: “in some instances upon cost of sure prescribed charges and topic to sure rules concerning the timing and the length of the locking and opening of those gates.”
He alleged that “throughout President Bola Tinubu's go to for his Christmas holidays, misinformation was handed on to the (state) authorities that the road gates had been inflicting gridlock in Lagos Island and Lekki Section 1.”
The lawyer appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu “to work with the Lekki Section 1 Residents Affiliation to reach at a workable association that may guarantee the security of lives and properties within the sprawling property,” stressing that “it’s not that’s appropriate. The federal government is the one which endangers the security of its personal residents and exposes them to avoidable hazard.”
However the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Gboyega Akosile, defended the elimination of the gates.
Akosile mentioned: “Mr SanwoOlu’s authorities has achieved nothing incorrect. Lagos State is the most secure state in Nigeria. There are instances the place folks have died throughout emergencies as a result of they might not attain the hospital on time resulting from closed road gates.
“Mr Adegboruwa's declare is incorrect. These raised road gates violate state environmental legal guidelines. When the federal government allotted the scheme to residents, the federal government solely allotted your plots to you; the federal government has not assigned you the street. So you don’t have any proper to go on authorities roads and erect fences within the identify of safety that the federal government adequately offers.”
