1 month ago
17
By Efe Onodjae
Over 19 buildings were connected Thursday pulled down astatine the New Mandela Plaza, wrong the fashionable Trade Fair Complex successful Lagos, arsenic the authorities authorities moved successful with a dense information beingness to transportation retired a monolithic demolition exercise.
Vanguard observed that the demolition workout was carried retired nether dense security, with a convoy of trucks from the Lagos State Task Force, Rapid Response Squad, and tactical teams stationed astir the plaza. The stern-looking officers restricted entree to the premises and sent distant traders who attempted to grounds the exercise.
At the clip of filing this report, selective buildings wrong the plaza were already reduced to rubble, sparking outrage from store owners who claimed they were not served anterior notice.
One trader, who spoke reluctantly to Vanguard, said: “We don’t adjacent cognize the crushed for the demolition. That’s wherefore you spot radical moving up and down, asking questions.” Another speculated that the affected structures mightiness person been marked for being excessively adjacent to a canal.
A visibly agitated plaza owner, who arrived portion his store was being pulled down, screamed from his car that nary announcement was served earlier the bulldozers moved in. Some income representatives lamented that their bosses’ goods, inactive locked up wrong the shops, were destroyed alongside the buildings.
Vanguard gathered from distraught traders that nary less than 19 buildings valued astatine implicit N150 cardinal each were affected by the exercise. “If authorities doesn’t privation companies oregon improvement here, they should conscionable travel retired and accidental it. People person invested their beingness savings here. Over 19 buildings are successful that plaza”, 1 trader said angrily.
When contacted to clarify the relation of the Task Force, its Chairman said the cognition did not originate from his office. He explained: “Sometimes, information agencies successful the authorities question the backup of the Task Force to unafraid the environment. That does not mean they initiated the process. However, if specified reports travel to my table, I volition fto you know.”
As astatine property time, determination was nary authoritative connection from the Lagos State Government connected the demolition, but information operatives remained connected crushed to forestall immoderate breakdown of instrumentality and order.
English (US) ·