The Okun Ajah community in Lagos State is facing a major issue regarding the Lagos-Calabar Expressway project. Residents are protesting against the alleged diversion of the expressway through their community, which they claim is illegal and was done by some government officials . They’re worried that this will lead to the demolition of their properties and displacement of community members.
Members of the community, under the auspices of Okun Ajah Community Development Association, have urged President Bola Tinubu to investigate the alleged illegal diversion, expressing fear that it would lead to the demolition of their houses.
The community also debunked claims by the Ministry of Works that the decision to divert the road in Okun-Ajah was necessitated by the presence of telecommunications cable.
The residents in a letter by their Chairman and Secretary, Messrs Isah Noibi and Yusuf Odunuga, respectively, urged President Tinubu to direct the officials to reverse the diversion.
The letter reads: “As we speak, there are rumours of hundreds of millions of naira exchanging hands between those who built on the Coastal road and those influential forces within the Federal Government agencies to divert the Coastal road from its legally enacted trajectory of 30 years ago into properties of law-abiding citizens who did not build on the Coastal Road alignment.
“Mr President, kindly disregard the misinformation and falsehood that MTN cable passes through Okun-Ajah. No single cable passes through Okun Ajah. For clarification purposes, the Okun Ajah alignment is at Chainage 16+500 – 17+500, while the MTN cable is at Chainage 24+500, which is at Shoprite road, Okun Mopo, about 7 kilometres away from Okun-Ajah.”
