The Lagos State government on Wednesday told a court that contrary to evidence available to the public, its officials did not carry out further demolition of homes in Otodogbame, but only went to the community to pack debris.
The government also offered insights into the cause of the stalemate in the court-ordered mediation between its officials and inhabitants of Otodogbame, a waterfront community in the Lekki area.
The counsel to the state government, S. Quadri, on Wednesday told a Lagos High Court that the state did not pull out of the mediation but that the residents were making impossible demands.
“We appeared before the mediation, but they are asking the government to build houses for them, over 300 people,” Mr. Quadri told Justice S.A Onigbangbo.
“The government never made any offer to the people that were displaced, how do we relocate them, they should not just come anywhere they see and settle. If they want to settle in Lagos, they should come with their money and buy land to settle.”
The court had earlier on Wednesday struck out contempt proceedings instituted by the Otodogbame community against Governor Akinwunmi Ambode stating that it lacked jurisdiction to try the governor because of the immunity he enjoys.
The court, however, condemned the alleged action of the governor.
“If the governor had truly ordered the forceful eviction and demolition of the second applicant, he undermined the principles of the rule of law and the same process which put him in office in the first place,” the judge said.
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