* Amid promise to pay compensation
Chief Saheed Ologunro of Okun-Ajah community in Eti-Osa Local Government Area has urged the Federal government to maintain the initial Lagos-Calabar coastal highway plan designed by the State government in 2006, arguing that the new alignment negates it.
The Federal government, on Saturday, started the demolition of properties it claims are affected by the right of way on the Lagos-Calabar coastal road construction.
The community leader spoke after the compensation ceremony for the affected residents.
Ologunro explained that the new alignment affects the existing community, which has been residing there for the past 200 years.
The Baale said: “As of 2006 when we moved in there, the routes for the coastal road were already demarcated.
“There is a Certificate of Occupancy that covers where most of the landlords in the Okun-Ajah built their structure.
“Surprisingly, there is a deviation from the approved CofO land from the initial coastal road to the approached CofO area. This means that there is a plan to bring illegality over legality.
“Most of the places that they ought to avoid were lands that were not legally approved by the government. If this happens it means there is an encouragement of fraud.
“We all know that the state has already mapped out plans for the coastal road and we have avoided the initial coastal road.
“Now the Federal Government is having a new realignment which encroaches the whole village entirely. The whole community is finished by the new alignment.”
Ologunro said contrary to the description by the Minister of Works Dave Umahi, the community is not a shanty.
He said: “Is it the village he is calling a shanty? That is one question there because in a village you don’t have a mansion.
“We only have bungalow houses so maybe it is our village the minister is calling shanty.”
According to Ologunro, if nothing is done after the appeal, the community will resist any attempt to demolish the abodes of the people.
He said if nothing is done to reverse the initial coastal route by the State government, they would have no other option than to call their lawyer to file a stay of execution.
Earlier, Umahi disclosed that the Federal government will, on Wednesday, pay N2.75 billion in compensation to property owners affected by the demolition necessary for the construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway spanning from channel zer0 to channel 3.