Justice Surajudeen Onigbangbo of the Lagos High Court has stopped the state government from carrying out its eviction order on settlers of many waterfront communities, declaring the order as an infringement on the rights of the residents.
The settlements described as slums by the government are Otodo Gbame, Tomaro, Otumara, Orisunmibare, Oko Agbon, Itun Atan, Sogunro, the Ikorodu communities of Ofin, Bayeku, Olufunke Majidun and the Bariga communities of Ago Egun and Ebute-Ilaje.
Onigbangbo said ‘the rights of those evicted, such as the residents of Otodo-Gbame, had been violated, as there was no resettlement plan in place.’
The state government had argued that the clearance was necessary as the slum posed an “environmental risk”.
It is yet to respond but it has ignored such verdicts in the past.
Otodo-Gbame – one of the many informal fishing settlements in Africa’s most populous city – has been emptied in waves of clearances since November last year.
In March, the homes of about 5,000 people were razed to the ground, with reports of people being chased into the water on boats.
The high court judge ordered the government cease evictions and pay compensation.
Crowds cheered outside a packed courtroom where many of the evicted residents had gathered for the ruling.
The judge ruled in their favor, saying that the eviction of their community violated their rights because there was no resettlement plan in place.
Lagos State previously denied that they demolished the slum and said a fire, after which they cleared the remains because it was unsanitary and posed a fire risk, destroyed it.
But Onigbangbo would hear nothing of it and upheld his jugement
The clearing of Otodo-Gbame is seen as part of a statewide policy to clear up to 300,000 people from informal waterside settlements.
