Victims Of Demolitions Anywhere Will Go To Court — Falana

Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has said victims of alleged illegal demolitions in Oworonshoki area of Lagos State will approach the court for redress, revealing that a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has awarded ₦200 million in damages against the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for carrying out demolitions without following due process in the Territory.

Speaking on Arise News Channel’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Friday, Falana disclosed that the Abuja judgement was delivered in July this year by Hon. Justice Muazu of the FCT High Court, who faulted the authorities for violating statutory provisions in their demolition exercise.

“All the victims of demolition are going to court. They are going to sue for damages,” Falana said. “In Abuja in July this year, Hon. Justice Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court awarded ₦200 million against the FCT Authorities for not complying with statutory provisions.”

The senior lawyer recalled that previous victims of illegal demolitions in Lagos secured a landmark judgement against the state government last year.

“In Lagos in 2024, in respect of the illegal demolition that took place in Makoko, Hon. Justice Ogazi of the Federal High Court awarded ₦3.5 billion against the Lagos State Government,” Falana added.

He stressed that affected citizens across Nigeria have the legal right to seek redress in court, warning that public officials who act outside the law will face accountability.

“My pain is that even under the defunct military junta in Nigeria, the Supreme Court made the point that in any country where the rule of law breaks, once a court is seized of a matter, the government owes it a duty, because it rules by law—to ensure that due process is allowed to run its full course,” he said.

Falana condemned what he described as the arrogance of some public officers who insist that demolitions will proceed “and nothing will happen,” vowing that such impunity will no longer go unchallenged.

“Where a permanent secretary, in defiance of the law, says ‘we are going to demolish the houses and nothing will happen,’ we are going to show them that a lot will happen this time around. Nobody is above the law in this country,” he declared.

He maintained that once a court has made decisions establishing that due process must precede any demolition, all authorities, federal or state, must comply strictly.

Falana’s comments came amid growing public outrage over widespread demolition exercises across Nigeria, with many citizens accusing state and federal agencies of violating property rights and ignoring subsisting court orders.