A human rights lawyer, Bamidele Aturu,
has described the restriction of okada in Lagos roads as “a callous
attempt to flush out the poor” in the state.
Aturu said this during a press
conference on the forthcoming Bamidele Aturu and Co Annual Law and
Social Development Public Lecture holding on October 29 in Lagos.
He explained that efforts to make Lagos a mega city must not be at the expense of the poor.
He said, “To make the poor scapegoats
for their project is a crime worse than rape. It is good to make Lagos
and our other urban cities look like London or Dubai. But it is
pointless to make them London populated by paupers. May God truly help
us to sleep with our two eyes closed.
“Nevertheless, it needs to be stressed
that it is futile to think, as the elite do, that the poor will simply
vanish from our space. That is not going to happen. They will only be
forced by the draconian laws and policies to seek all sorts of counter
cultural and criminal survival strategies.”
According to him, there is an increasing
tendency among the ruling elite across the country, especially in Lagos
and the Federal Capital Territory, to victimise the poor.
“When their houses are not being
demolished without adequate notice as in Makoko and FCT evictions, their
miserable means of livelihood are being denied them on the ground that
it constitutes a nuisance to the aesthetic fancy of the elite as can be
seen in the draconian restriction of okadas from 475 roads in Lagos
State without an alternative means of livelihood,” he said.
The lawyer, who blamed the government for protests by the riders, however, urged the okada operators to shun violence.
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