The Lagos State Government has defended the demolition of structures at the Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, insisting the exercise was based on technical grounds and not driven by ethnic bias.

Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olumide Oluyinka, made this clarification during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.

“That is not true,” he said, dismissing allegations of ethnic targeting. “We have been to Owode Onirin, Idumota, and Ikeja. It has no ethnic colouration. The fact is that we just have to do our work. There is nothing ethnic here; it is purely technical,” he said during the programme monitored in Lagos.

Oluyinka explained that the government had conducted similar enforcement operations across the state, including in Lagos Island.

“There has been a series of enforcement actions on Lagos Island. I personally led a team that even touched the palace of a white cap chief. This is Nigeria for all of us. The facts are clear; when you are in a place, you must live by the law of that place. It is as simple as that,” he said.

The commissioner accused the Trade Fair Management of worsening the situation by illegally leasing land to private developers without following due process.

“What we have seen is a situation where the management is leasing out land to third parties, who bring in their own consultants and contractors to build without recourse to the law. That day, we showed them there was no meaningful layout. We saw a three-storey building just two feet from the road kerb. When you open the shop doors, they swing into the road. Do you want to tell me a serious architect designed that? That cannot be possible,” he argued.

He added that defaulters were given ample time to regularise their structures before demolition commenced.

“I led a team there in March 2024. Between then and now is over a year and a half,” he recalled. “We met with the Executive Director, and there was almost a confrontation, which is evidence that we were there.”

According to him, officials serving notices were even harassed.

“Our officers went there to serve notices and were locked up for five to six hours. We had to bring in the police to release them. Even this year, officers went there and were detained. So what more notice are they requesting? It’s not new to them that we were coming. We gave defaulters time. They must obey the law,” he stated.

Oluyinka further lamented the poor state of infrastructure within the complex.

“It’s a shame we allowed our Trade Fair to get to that extent. Refuse, passage, drainages, walkways, sewage – everything is in shambles. They should even be happy we are there to sanitise because that is our responsibility. We cannot allow it to continue,” he said.

On 25 September, the Lagos State Government began the demolition of unsafe and illegal buildings at the complex. The operation was led by the Ministry of Physical Planning in collaboration with the Lagos State Building Control Agency, the Urban Renewal Agency, and the Physical Planning Permit Authority.

Senior Special Assistant on New Media to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Jubril Gawat, confirmed the operation in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

According to him, the exercise targeted “illegal developments, structures without statutory approvals, defective structures, and buildings erected on road setbacks and drainages.”

Officials from the Office of Infrastructure, members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, and security agencies also participated in the operation.

Two weeks earlier, the state government had suspended all reclamation projects across Lagos over environmental concerns. Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said reclamation was spreading to wetlands, floodplains, and lagoons without proper approvals.

He listed Parkview, Banana Island, Osborne, Ikoyi, Victoria Island Extension, Lekki, Ajah, Oworonshoki, and parts of Ikorodu among the affected areas.

“Lagos’s low-lying topography and fragile ecosystem cannot withstand indiscriminate reclamation activities without grave consequences,” Wahab warned.