Despite the outcries that followed the last Saturday demolition of Houses in the Badia East Community, Ijora, by the officials of Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Agency (LASPPDA), the State Commissioner of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olutoyin Ayinde insisted that the authority only cleared a refuse dump.
Speaking as a discussant on the topic ‘Badia: After the demolition’, Mr Ayinde said his Ministry does not recognise any structure in Lagos state that is not registered on a database in his laptop.
On Saturday, February 23, 2013, a demolition squad from the Lagos State Government began forcefully evicting thousands of residents of the Badia East community in Lagos. Over the course of the day, two bulldozers, dozens of uniformed Lagos State Physical Planning and Development Agency (LASPPDA) agents and countless others working with the Lagos State Environmental and Sanitation Task Force destroyed hundreds of homes, along with businesses, churches and community facilities.
In the video below, Mr Ayinde, his counterpart in the Ministry of Housing, Bosun Jeje, the Executive Director of the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC), Felix Morka and a resident of the demolished Badia argued the bases for the demolition.