Security threats: 360 shops, shanties demolished at Sagamu toll gate

About 360 shops and shanties built around Sagamu toll gate section of the Abeokuta-Sagamu-Benin and Lagos-Sagamu-Benin expressway have been demolished by the Ogun State government.  The state Commissioner for Urban and Regional Planning, Mrs Ronke Sokefun who led the demolition exercise at the said that the action was taken following reports of security threats posed […]

About 360 shops and shanties built around Sagamu toll gate section of the Abeokuta-Sagamu-Benin and Lagos-Sagamu-Benin expressway have been demolished by the Ogun State government. 

The state Commissioner for Urban and Regional Planning, Mrs Ronke Sokefun who led the demolition exercise at the said that the action was taken following reports of security threats posed by the illegal occupants to motorists and travelers on the busy road. 

“The exercise is carried out to check the impunity of residents who erected illegal shanties and shops and the indiscriminate parking of truck in this section of the road. This decision was taken after the last state executive council meeting following security threats pose to travelers caught up during traffic as a result of the truck drivers,” she said.

She however noted that as “a sensitive and responsive government, plans have been concluded to build new shopping malls for the displaced shop owners at Ogere and  this is a distance of about 10 kilometers from the demolished site.” 

Some members of the affected residents, however, told our correspondent during a visit on Monday, that the demolition exercise was carried out without enough notice. 

A resident, who simply identified as Segun said that they were not notified before coming “and this does not allow us to salvage our properties,” he said, even as appeal was made for relocation of the affected residents.  

Sources at the ministry however, countered the no notice claim, declaring that, “over a year ago, the area had been marked for demolition. There are evidences to show that we had given them enough time to relocate. Anyway, as disclosed by the commissioner, government had concluded plans to relocate them.”