…as alleged land grabbers attack Makoko residence

By Emmanuel Daniji

For Omoniyi Rasaq, a widow living in Makoko, Lagos Mainland, the night of September 20 turned into a nightmare she and her family may struggle to forget.

It was around 2am when angry banging on the door woke her, her children and tenants in the nine-room face-to-face apartment at 20 Erejuwa Street.

Before they could fully understand what was happening, a group of men had reportedly invaded the compound, armed with machetes, cudgels and sledgehammers.

Then they began pulling the house apart.

According to Rasaq’s daughter, who spoke to TheCable on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal, the men climbed onto the roof, removed roofing sheets and started breaking down the walls with sledgehammers.

The occupants were still inside the building.

At one point, the men allegedly shouted in Yoruba that those inside should be killed and the house brought down on them.

The widow’s daughter said her mother was initially afraid to open the door. When she eventually did, the men allegedly threatened to kill her if she raised an alarm or called for help. Her daughter was also warned against recording the incident with her phone.

The family and tenants could only plead for enough time to remove their belongings.

“We started begging them to allow us to carry our things from the house,” the daughter said.

The men eventually allowed them to take some of their property, but continued demolishing the building while the occupants struggled to salvage what they could.

By the time the attack ended, the family had lost the home that had sheltered them, while several tenants were left without a place to stay.

Some of the tenants reportedly sustained injuries during the destruction, while Rasaq’s daughter suffered a cut to her jaw.

The family believes the attack was connected to a dispute over the land.

According to the daughter, some men had approached her mother months earlier to ask how she acquired the property. She told them that she inherited the land from her late father, who had acquired it more than 50 years ago.

The men later allegedly asked Rasaq to sell the property to them for ₦10 million. She reportedly refused, saying she could not sell inherited property.

The daughter said the men who demolished the house claimed they had been sent by people identified as “Abule and Moje” and described themselves as “Omonile”, a term commonly used in reference to people claiming ownership or control of land.

The family now believes the widow was targeted because the alleged land grabbers considered her vulnerable.

The matter has reportedly been reported to the Zone 2 Police Headquarters in Lagos. TheCable’s report did not include a police account confirming the identity of those behind the demolition or establishing the motive.

For the widow and the tenants who lived in the building, however, the immediate problem is more basic.

A home that had stood for years is gone, belongings had to be rescued in the middle of the night, people were injured, and several tenants are now left looking for somewhere else to sleep.