Lagos locks up building with occupants inside

Lagos locks up building with occupants inside

NEWS DIGEST – Officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency have sealed five buildings on Allen Avenue, Lagos.

The Punch reports that the officials stormed the buildings around 9am on Tuesday for alleged contravention of the state laws.

Some of the tenants were reportedly locked up, while others could not get out of their property before the buildings were shut.

The government agency was said to have shut the buildings for their conversion to commercial use.

One of the tenants, Thomas Ogundipe, however, said the buildings were built for both residential and commercial purposes.

Ogundipe, who claimed to have been a tenant in one of the buildings for 35 years, said, “This building has been here for the past 40 years and I have been here for over 35 years. When Mama Tejuosho built this place in the early 80s, she also built it for commercial purposes.”

One of the tenants allegedly locked up in one of the buildings, who identified herself only as Mrs Onuh, said she was traumatised by the experience.

While speaking to the Newspaper, she stated, “I am surprised about the situation I find myself. I just returned from overseas where I lived for 30 years. I invested everything that I have in this place and I’m completely shocked and traumatised that this is happening. Since when this happened, we have completely lost business because people don’t want to come to a place that is sealed up.”

The caretaker of the buildings, Gbenga Ilesanmi, who also claimed that the property was for commercial purposes, said he was surprised by the development.

The Public Affairs Officer of LASBCA who simply identify himself as Mr. Gbade denied that the agency locked up residents in the building.

He said, “It is not possible for our officials to lock people inside the buildings; if we want to lock up a building, we usually tell the occupants to move out.

“We are enforcing the auditing result carried out on all the structures in Lagos. The approval got for some of the buildings were residential, but they were converted to commercial purpose.

“What the agency is telling them is to come and regularise the process and get approval for commercial purpose.”