By Femi Falana SAN
On June 22, 2017, the Lagos High Court declared illegal and unconstitutional the series of brutal, government-ordered evictions that had left more than 30,000 Nigerians homeless. The presiding Judge, Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo (now retd) ruled that the rights of the residents had been violated. The judge awarded reparation of N3.5 million in favour of the Claimants.
The judge further ordered a stop to future evictions in a move that could prevent an estimated 270,000 other residents of Lagos from losing their prime waterfront homes to urban development. Having regard to the urban renewal policy of the state government, the court directed the authorities to discuss re-settlement plans with affected communities.
In another judgment delivered on August 25, 2025, Justice F.N. Ogazi of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos restrained the Lagos State Government, its agencies, and the Nigeria Police Force from carrying out any further unlawful demolitions or evictions in the Makoko, Oko-Agbon, Sogunro, and Iwaya waterfront communities of the State.
The judicial order was granted to protect the settlements, in view of the “continuous threat and fear of imminent demolition” faced by the residents.The decision followed several years of tension between the waterfront communities and the State Government, which has been accused of forcefully acquiring the land for private development without compensation or resettlement plans.
In a brazen display of executive impunity, the Lagos State Government has continued to demolish the waterfront properties including schools and medical centres. In the process of the reckless demolitions and evictions, some citizens have lost their lives while thousands of others have been displaced.
The action of the Lagos State is highly contemptuous of the Supreme Court delivered on January 7, 2024, in the legal dispute between the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA and Lagos State Government. According to the apex court, the existing laws have conferred exclusive control of activities in the inland waterways on the federal government through its agencies, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and no other tier of government.
For the avoidance of doubt, the Supreme Court clarified that the National Inland Waterways Authority is the only rightful and legal agency of government with the “powers to exclusively manage, direct and control all activities on the navigable waters and its right of way throughout the country for inland navigation, pursuant to Sections 8 and 9 of NIWA Act.”
Since the exclusive control of activities in the inland waterways has been conferred on the federal government through its agency, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and no other tier of government, the demolitions of the properties in the waterfront communities in Lagos State is illegal, unconstitutional and contemptuous. It is a glaring sabotage of the judicial arm of government.
In urging the Lagos State Government to comply with the valid and subsisting judgments and halt further demolitions and evictions of poor people in the State, we are compelled to remind Governor Babajide Sanwoolu of the case of The Military Governor of Lagos State v Chief Emeka Ojukwu whereby the defunct military junta complied with the order of the Supreme Court by restoring the respondent to the disputed property at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, Lagos State.
