Indigenes and residents of Okun Ajah in the Eti Osa local government area of Lagos State have condemned the planned diversion of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road in the community from the alignment and gazetted portion.
The community also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the minister of works, Engr David Umahi to ensure that the road through the community is in concordance with the 2006 gazetted alignment.
In an interaction with newsmen on behalf of the community, an indigene of the town, Yussuf Olatunji Odunuga, said, “Since we got the excision for this village in 2006 under the then Governor Bola Tinubu, now president of Nigeria, there was an alignment for coastal road and it was gazette.”
He continued, “Everybody in the town knows that there is a coastal road alignment but some people went ahead to build on some parts of the alignment thinking that the government will not come and construct the road in the future.
“Now that it is the time for the construction of the road, the minister is trying to divert the road from the houses of those who built on the alignment at the expense of those that adhered to the alignment.
“It is unjust and confusing. Those who are affected now have valid documents from the government, while those who built on the coastal road do not.”
He added that the affected individuals were taken aback when, despite assurances at the last stakeholders’ meeting at Eko Hotel, Lagos, their properties were impacted by the highway construction.
The minister of works had assured them that their property would be unaffected, as they were developed outside the gazetted areas designated for the project.
Also commenting on the development, a member of the Baale-in-Council of Okun Ajah, Alhaji Kazeem Shittu, called on the minister to revert to the alignment of the road to douse the tension in the town.
He appreciated the president and the minister for their efforts on the road but enjoined them to maintain the 2006 alignment.
He said, “Reverting to the Coastal Road alignment of 2006 will engender peace and unity in the community. The Minister should go back to the gazetted alignment of the coastal road in our community,
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