It appears there will never be respite for the poor in Nigeria. From all fronts, the poor and hapless are always at the receiving end of all government policies, especially those ones that leave them with inadequate resources to absorb the negative impact of such policies and as such are at the mercy of the vagaries of shylocks as landlords, traders, transporters, school proprietors, land grabbers etc.
In the midst of all the challenges that confront those at the lower rung of the ladder, it’s unfortunate to also realise that they still do not enjoy the protection of the law or the protection of government, who it appears, see them as only being useful during elections.
Ajegunle in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos, is one of densely populated areas of the city where those who belong to the lower strata of the population in the country first arrive when they come to Lagos.
Many have from that humble beginnings since moved up to achieve great things around the world.
The people of Ajegunle have, in spite of the near total neglect of the area, managed to get by. There are only few good roads, complete lack of pipe borne water, very few public schools to match the ever-growing population. The public schools have been overstretched with some having over or close to 100 pupils in a class. Schools that are not attuned to modern reality of being hubs for technological and scientific learning.
Although in recent years, there have been some improvements in some areas, with the upgrade of the Health Centre to a General Hospital during the reign of Governor Bola Tinubu and later Governor Babatunde Fashola, and some recent road construction under the current dispensation of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
There is hardly any other government intervention worthy of mentioning when viewed with the humongous resources supposedly accruing to the local government from the federation allocation.
If the unfortunate people living in this suburb have learnt not to expect anything from the government except seasonal visits during electioneering the least they should get from the government is to be allowed to live in peace.
Sadly, that peaceful existence among the people which had endured over the years, except in some few occasions of skirmishes, is now being denied them again.
Penultimate Monday, we lamented the renaming, in one fell swoop, of all streets named after non-Yoruba to Yoruba names. Our argument was how that single action in the minds of the promoters of those obnoxious, retrogressive, and inconsequential actions would help build the fortune or impact the state positively?
We also argued that those behind that are, sadly non-Lagosians, and that also do not mean well for the state. They are inadvertently sowing a seed of discord all in the name of politics. They are planting a seed of ethnic divisions and suspicions that were hitherto alien to that area.
Last week, I saw some worrisome footage on social media where some Ajegunle residents were lamenting the actions of some land grabbers who are snatching and reselling their houses without their consent.
To be sure, this ugly trend has been going on for some time, but it has assumed a very dangerous dimension in the last few years.
For those of us who were born in Ajegunle and lived with people from other tribes and religious persuasions, it is sad to hear the kind of stories coming out from Ajegunle now. It is indeed disappointing to see or hear what is now becoming of Ajegunle.
Those who once lived there still have fond memories of Ajegunle. In this age and time, when we should be hearing news about improved infrastructure, more opportunities for growth and development of the people, these are indeed troubling times.
Ajegunle, the same place where Christians attended Muslim schools and vice versa, is now being turned into a place for ethnic slurs and baiting. How very sad indeed.
When these land grabbers started, initially the residents of non-Yoruba were their main markets, but as their criminal enterprise became very profitable, they have now unleashed their fangs on all, especially those without the wherewithal or resources to prosecute their cases.
How do you just wake up one day and then mark a building that is over 50 years old as belonging to another family and without a ruling from a court of competent jurisdiction and sell such a building leaving the original occupants and owners homeless? Many of them are retirees and surviving children of the owners.
Are these people, some of whom have wasted their lives abroad and do not have any legal means of livelihood, above the law? Is it taken now that we now live in a jungle or lawless state where anything goes?
Can anyone, no matter how highly placed, take laws into his hands with no consequences? How can the helpless, downtrodden people of Ajegunle, who have been living for decades in their homes and paying Land Use Charges to the state government, be completely left at the mercy of some touts, parading as land owners, while the state government looks on? Can there ever be any reprieve or succour for the famished of the land, whose only sin is that they are not rich or well-connected in this nation?
Governor Sanwo-Olu should do well to come to the aid of these unfortunate people. He was there to seek their support and now that he is in office, he cannot afford to leave them at the mercy of miscreants, who go by whatever name. If these so-called families believe that these lands where people have lived for many years belong to them, they must go to court to pursue their case. They do not have any right to evict people from their homes and sell their houses. They cannot adjudicate in their own litigation. The supremacy of the rule of law must be brought to bear in this case.
Or are residents of Ajegunle to take all of these recent happenings as part of a grand scheme to ‘Marokonise’ Ajegunle (taking the land of the poor and giving it to the rich?).
Where can these less fortunate seek redress and who would protect them from these sharks and mindless miscreants and societal leeches?
