Janet Ogundepo
Former Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, Mr Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour, has condemned the ongoing demolition of homes in Makoko, describing it as an unlawful land grab disguised as a safety measure.
Rhodes-Vivour alleged that while the Lagos State Government claims the eviction is necessary due to residents living under high-tension power lines, private developers are already advertising luxury buildings on the same land at N150,000 per square metre, potentially generating over N101 billion.
Speaking on the displacement in a video posted on his X account on Tuesday, Rhodes-Vivour stated that thousands of families have been violently evicted from the century-old waterfront community, with many now living in makeshift camps.
“Right now, thousands of families in Makoko are being displaced. Their homes have been pulled down very aggressively, violently. Their livelihoods have been destroyed. We’ve seen children who have been forced out of the only communities that they have ever known, and most of them are just living and floating in camps,” he stated.
He questioned the government’s safety justification, noting that private developers such as FBT Coral Estate are already advertising buildings to be constructed on the same land under the same power cables.
“If this land is truly unsafe for poor families to live on, if it is genuinely a danger to human life, how is it suddenly safe for private luxury developments that cost N150,000 per square metre? Bringing the value of FBT Coral Estate that they intend to build to over N100 billion,” Rhodes-Vivour asked.
PUNCH Healthwise had earlier reported that the ongoing demolition in Makoko had left thousands of children without access to life-saving vaccines, exposing them to vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio, measles, cholera, and other infectious illnesses.
The report titled “Makoko: Children miss immunisation as demolition renders mothers homeless” documented how families, including nursing mothers and young children, were forced to live on canoes for weeks, surviving on soaked cassava flakes while using the lagoon water for bathing and washing.
In a follow-up investigation, PUNCH Healthwise reported that displaced pregnant women from Makoko faced grave health risks, with many sleeping in canoes, battling hypertension, fever, hunger, and anaemia while approaching their delivery dates.
In the report titled “No shelter, no safety: Makoko pregnant women fear for newborns,” medical experts warned of worsened maternal and newborn health outcomes if urgent intervention was not provided.
With Nigeria accounting for 34 per cent of global maternal deaths and about 58.1 per cent of pregnant women giving birth at home, experts called on the government to provide temporary shelter and access to healthcare facilities for displaced families, warning that delays in accessing emergency obstetric care could prove fatal for both mothers and babies.
The demolition began on December 22, 2025, and has already led to the death of over five persons in the community, including twin newborns, a toddler and two elderly women.
One of them, a carpenter, Papa Eve Amossou, lost his three-week-old daughter, Morenikeji, during last week’s demolition carried out by the Lagos State Government in Makoko.
Speaking further, Rhodes-Vivour argued that the demolition prioritises profit over people, stating, “Safety cannot be selective. The sad truth is that what is happening in Makoko is not about safety, it’s about who is considered expendable, and it’s a land grab that prioritises the profits of the few to the detriment of the masses.”
He described Makoko as a living community that has existed as long as Lagos itself, noting that it is home to thousands of fishermen who have sustained their families for over 100 years.
“Makoko is a living, breathing community that has existed as long as Lagos has existed. It’s older than Lagos. It has thousands of fishermen who wake up before dawn to cast their nets into the waters to earn a small income, but this has sustained this community for over 100 years,” he said.
He emphasised that Makoko residents include parents struggling to send their children to school and children whose dreams are as valid as those born in affluent areas like Ikoyi or Lekki.
The former gubernatorial candidate cited Section 28 of the Land Use Act, which gives the government the power to revoke land rights only for overriding public interest, not for convenience, value generation, or to transfer land from the poor to private developers for profit.
“Our Supreme Court has also said this repeatedly. Taking land from the community and handing it to private interests does not qualify as overriding the public interest. It is unlawful, it is unconstitutional, and it is an abuse of power,” he stated.
He warned that when laws are twisted to favour the powerful, the masses lose trust in governance itself.
Rhodes-Vivour questioned what kind of city Lagos is building, asking whether it works only for the wealthy or recognises the dignity of every resident.
“True development does not erase people; it plans with them, it includes them in the ideation of it. We cannot demolish communities today and call it progress tomorrow because progress that creates homelessness and deepens inequality, whilst treating human beings as obstacles, is no progress at all,” he argued.
He called for alternatives, including resettlement, consultation, and inclusive design that preserves the footprint of indigenous communities rather than erasing them.
Rhodes-Vivour proposed upskilling residents so they can operate in other areas of the value chain before relocation, noting that their livelihoods are tied to where they live.
He also suggested building better-designed, affordable housing with more density and amenities, allowing vertical rather than horizontal expansion.
“What Makoko needs is justice. Public power must never be used to serve private greed to the detriment of people whom the governor is sworn to protect and to create an enabling environment for their dreams to come to life,” Rhodes-Vivour stated.
He pledged to continue speaking for and standing by the Makoko residents, stating that they deserve to be seen, heard, and afforded the full protection of the law.
“The Lagos that abandons its most vulnerable is a Lagos that has lost its soul, and that’s not what Lagos is. That’s not the Lagos of Alhaji Lateef Jakande. That’s not the Lagos of Bolaji Johnson, and that’s definitely not the Lagos that we deserve,” he concluded.
The Lagos State Government has justified the demolition as necessary to protect residents from dangers associated with living under high-tension power lines and near the Third Mainland Bridge.
The Permanent Secretary of the Office of Urban Development, Mr Gbolahan Oki, maintained that it was part of the government’s urban regeneration programme, aimed at achieving megacity status.
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