By Olasunkanmi Akoni

The property developer handling about100 buildings meant for stalls and currently under construction at Powerline area of Egbe-Idimu, in old Alimosho Local Government Area, has defied governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s order who had placed a stop work order in the area.  Saturday Vanguard gathered that the property developer has gone ahead with the project, damning all consequences.

Investigation by Saturday Vanguard revealed that the project is being sponsored by management of the Old Alimosho LGA and traditional ruler of Isheri-Olofin. The former occupants were said to have been forcefully ejected from their shops by armed miscreants, accompanied by armed policemen from Idimu Police Division before the demolition of the old structures which later saw the emergence of new ones. Some occupants were alleged to have sustained different degree of injuries.

Those displaced who could afford the price were re-allocated the spaces, while those who could not were forced to look for elsewhere to trade. At the site, there is a bold sign board mounted somewhere at the entrance of the road, off LASU-Igando road. The inscription on the board reads: Alimosho LGA and Egbe Idimu Local Council Development Area, LCDA. Oba Wahab Ayinde Balogun Modern Market, Isheri Olofin Lagos State.

The structures consist of 14 stalls each, comprising of several lock-up shops and K-Clamps. Some of the shops are being taken over by owners. Each of the lock-up shop, it was also learnt, sold for N1.5million, while the K-Clamp is for N500,000. Many prospective buyers were said to have made payment to agents. The demolition mark, already pasted on the buildings by Lagos State Building and Control Agency, LASBCA, had been wiped off, apparently, to conceal the stop work order of the state government.

Sequel to the latest development, some concerned residents, under the aegis of “Egbe Isokan,” Phase I and II, Power-line, in the area had raised alarm over the springing up of the structures and its inherent dangers on the community. The group accused government agents of building the market stalls under high electricity wire posing threat to life and property of residents.

The group, therefore, called on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the state House of Assembly for their intervention to stop forthwith, the developer and their sponsors from going ahead with the project.