Coastal highway: Protesters demand justice for landowners, detained activist

Umahi

A coalition of civil society organisations on Wednesday staged a peaceful protest in Lagos over the alleged wrongful displacement of residents and landowners in Okun Ajah, a community reportedly affected by the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway project.

The protest monitored by PUNCH Metro was held at the annexe office of the Federal Ministry of Works, Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos.

The group also demanded the immediate release of one of their members, identified as Obanla, who was allegedly detained during the land clearance exercise linked to the project.

The coalition’s coordinator, Shina Loremikan, lamented what he described as a pattern of intimidation allegedly by government officials and private developers executing the proje

He claimed that Obanla was abducted by military personnel at one of the disputed areas, the Winhomes project site.

He said, “The current realignment of the highway has led to mass displacement without adequate consultation or compensation. We are not comfortable with the masking of land grabbing as national infrastructure development and using state apparatus to intimidate and dispossess lawful landowners.”

“The minister and his agents are using government power to oppress the people. What is happening in Okun Ajah is not just development, it’s a calculated dispossession of citizens from their ancestral lands,” Loremikan alleged during the protest. Punch