One week after 13 houses, mostly mansions, at the Runview Estate, Ajao Estate, near the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, were demolished by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the affected landlords and residents are yet to recover from shock.
Daily Trust Saturday reports that fear has gripped other residents who encroached on the land belonging to the FAAN as it said more of such houses would give way.
The residents couldn’t believe it when bulldozers were mobilised to the area to carry out the demolition in the presence of heavily armed policemen. In less than one hour, many mansions, including a hotel, were turned to rubbles.
Many of the affected owners said they could not bring out anything, lamenting that their life savings were gone within a twinkle of an eye.
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It was gathered that one of the house owners just finished building and was planning to do house warming this Sunday.
“I could not hold back tears when I watched how the house that took me five years to build was demolished in less than one hour. It was a very harrowing experience which nobody wants to share. But we accept the fact that when there is life, so there is hope,” one of the residents whose property was demolished by the FAAN, in conjunction with the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) said.
As at the time of filing this report, policemen were yet to vacate the site, while house owners lamented that they were unable to remove anything from the site.
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Obimma Ichie Ezendiok Welume, one of the victims of the exercise who spoke with Daily Trust Saturday at IK Peters Street said, “When you were building, they would come and mark, and when things were sorted out, you would continue. They allowed the development to continue. If they had warned against it at the initial stage, this wouldn’t have happened. They waited for people to complete their buildings and spending millions of naira to furnish them. This is a complete economic waste. If the government had marked here as a no- go-area and policemen stationed, this wouldn’t have happened and other people would learn. They encouraged people to come.”
He alleged that people were not allowed to remove their furniture and even television sets and other electronics.
He lamented, “How do you explain this to a young boy who witnessed it? We have lost everything. We lost close to N1 billion. Some of the houses cost between N100 million and N200m. It took me five years to build my house, but everything was demolished.
“The cost of buying a full plot of land in that area alone is N60m and N30m for half plot. Put all these together.
Another distraught house owner told our correspondent that he was in the hospital when his property was demolished.
Another victim of the demolition, a former editor of The Guardian on Saturday and former deputy managing director of New Telegraph Newspapers, Mr Felix Oguejiofor Abugu, said his house was valued at N70m.
Abugu said, “My family is on the street right now. But let’s be clear about one thing: neither the government of Lagos nor its agencies had anything to do with the demolitions per se. The land belongs to the FAAN and it simply paid for the services of the concerned agency of Lagos to demolish our houses unjustifiably. So, away with the drivel about Lagos targeting anyone or group.
“I bought my land in September 2011 while some bought much earlier, but all of us bought from the Adejumolu family on the basis of a court judgement shown to every buyer, indicating that the land belonged to them.
“However, ownership of the land reverted to the FAAN after another court ruling, whereupon the agency took over the estate and renamed it Runview/Mercy Estate and invited landlords to come for ownership regularisation.’ Those of us from the side where houses have now been demolished were also invited, but we were later denied the privilege of regularization, for reasons that were never clear.
“I believe the reasons for this wicked demolition of our property, which some bought 15 to 20 years back, are as untenable as they are varied.
“The truth is that the FAAN has no justifiable reason to demolish our property. If it regularised houses, even across the street, what was so offensive about our side?
“How does one handle this type of situation? This is a property that one put in practically everything one had to be able to develop and live with one’s family; now, it is gone, just in one hour. I just don’t know what to do.”
Affected owners were warned – LASBCA
Reacting, the general manager of the LASBCA, Gbolahan Oki, said most of the property owners close to the airport lacked the necessary building permits from relevant agencies.
He said, “We have realised that property owners in Ajao Estate and Shasha, close to the MMA, lack the necessary building approval, which is a basic requirement. They also lack planning permits. Secondly, they are building on a pipeline, and this could cause fire incidents.
“We served four notices to the occupants of these houses for them to come up with what they had. Some of them came with approvals, but we found out that they were fake. Some came with different documents; and after that, we served them the necessary permits to move on.”
He said all the property owners were served by the FAAN since 2016, while the LASBCA gave the residents more than a two-month notice to relocate.
Defending the demolition, the FAAN explained that the land in question belonged to it and the encroachment was noticed in 2008.
The acting general manager, Corporate Affairs of the FAAN, Mrs Faithful A. Hope-Ivbaze, said the residents were duly notified.
The FAAN stated, “To avoid a situation of wanton damage and colossal losses, the present administration, on assuming office, inaugurated a regularisation committee on FAAN’s encroached lands and property. The committee was charged with the task of finding ways of identifying and regularising only those properties located in positions that do not pose direct and critical challenge to airport safety and security.”
The statement added that in the committee’s report submitted in 2022, out of 254 buildings evaluated, 220 were recommended for regularisation as they posed “no direct/critical security and safety challenges to the airport,” adding that they have been duly regularised.
“Thirty-four others that were built within FAAN’s perimeter fence and mostly erected above the aviation fuel pipeline and waterways, clearly posing direct safety and security challenges to the airport, as well as their owners/occupants, were marked for demolition,” the statement added, noting that occupants of the buildings were duly notified of an impending demolition through intensive awareness campaigns.
The statement added that removal of illegal structures was scheduled to be carried out at all other airports that have similar challenges.
“The Authority hereby uses this opportunity to advise all illegal occupants to relocate from all airport lands for their own safety,” it added.
Daily Trust Saturday reports that apart from Ajao Estate, many parts of Shasha area have been reportedly encroached upon, with many residential buildings and shops erected. Many residents have also built houses on airport lands in Akowonjo, Orisunmibare, Ile Zik, part of Isolo, among others.
It was learnt that FAAN’s land encroached upon at Shasha is estimated to be 56.918 hectares, while 21.44 hectares were encroached upon at Ajao.
It was gathered that after a rigorous legal battle, the FAAN recovered some of the lands, including the one in Ajao Estate.
On the Shasha end, our correspondent observed a caveat emptor notice boldly inscribed on a part of the land, warning members of the public to desist from transacting any business in respect of the said portions of land.
An airport official who spoke with our correspondent in confidence said, “Over the years, encroachment on the MMIA land has been a major headache for the FAAN. We would send the trespassers away, yet they would continue to return. People have gone to the extent of building estates on the land. But we have always told them that they were doing this at their own risk. Whether they like it or not, one day we would take back this land.”
Apart from Lagos airport, the agency has had to contend with suspected land grabbers across the country. A case in point is the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, where part of the fence was pulled down by one J.J Emejulu, an architect.
Also, in Ilorin, Kwara State, some portions of FAAN’s 2,248 hectares of land were allegedly encroached upon by communities.
The immediate past managing director of the FAAN, Saleh Dunoma, an engineer, once disclosed that the authority would require N25bn to erect perimeter fencing at all its 22 airports, with the fence area estimated to be about 500km.
An aviation analyst, Group Captain John Ojikutu, in a chat with our correspondent said, “This matter began from a report of a committee on the implementation of safety recommendations in 2011. The FAAN, NAMA and NCAA were informed about the closeness of some buildings to the runways. Action was never seen to be taken by successive management, and that caused further increase in the number of houses in the encroachment.
“The current management of the FAAN must be commended coming after our tour of the perimeter of the airport and cooperation between the FAAN management and the Lagos State Government on addressing the development of the complicated road networks around the airport.”
Also speaking with our correspondent, a former president of the Nigerian Institute of Structural Engineers, Victor Oyenuga, said the victims could only go to court to claim damages if they were convinced about the documents in their possession.
