Owode Onirin: It's Wrong For To Demolish Structures Without Court Permission – Falana

A Lagos-based human rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, has said that the government has no constitutional right to demolish structures without a court order.

 

Falana spoke on Thursday after an Ikeja High Court, presided over by Justice Savage, adjourned a matter involving Owode Onirin Motor Spare Parts Sellers and the Lagos State Government to February 26, 2026.

 

Addressing journalists, Falana said the right to own property is guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, adding that the spare parts sellers were not parties to the original suit in which judgment was delivered.

 

According to him, although the traders were not listed as parties in the judgment, their names were later added during its execution. 

 

He said that his clients had approached the court to set aside the judgment, noting that the respondents had filed a counter-affidavit and requested an adjournment to respond to his application.

 

“My application to be joined in the matter has been adjourned to February 26, 2026. 

 

"We operate a neo-colonial capitalist system that has no room for the poor. What is happening in Lagos State is a war against the poor; whether in Owode Onirin, Oworonsoki, Makoko, or elsewhere,” Falana said.

 

He described the demolitions as a consistent attack on the poor, alleging selective enforcement of planning laws.

 

“When the rich violate urban and regional planning laws, they are allowed to regularise. But when it comes to the poor, government resorts to demolition. We insist that no property can be demolished in Lagos without a court order, just as no tenant can be evicted without a court order,” he stated.

Falana stressed that Nigerians have a constitutional right to housing and to build anywhere in the country, provided the law is followed.

 

“The Ministry of Physical Planning cannot sit in its office and decide that someone’s house should be demolished. The court must first determine whether the law has been violated. For government officials to invade sites with bulldozers and demolish people’s homes is unacceptable,” he said.

Citing the Oworonsoki incident, Falana alleged that government officials ignored court orders, moved bulldozers to the site at night, tear-gassed residents, and demolished homes, including schools and hospitals.

 

“You cannot run a society like that. The constitution demands that all actions of government must be humane,” he added.

He further argued that rendering people homeless has no place in a civilised society, noting that such actions were not even permissible under military regimes.

“In a democracy, the responsibility of government is greater. Will a governor be happy to return from work and find his house demolished? Owode Onirin was allocated to our clients in 1979 by the administration of the late Governor Lateef Kayode Jakande after they were relocated from Lagos Island. Without notice, bulldozers were deployed, people were injured and brutalised,” Falana said.

 

Also speaking, the Chairman of Owode Onirin Motor Spare Parts Sellers, Mr. Abiodun Ahmed, said the traders were hopeful of getting justice.

 

“I don’t have much to say since the matter is in court. Our expectation is that government will give us our place back. Our people suffered greatly. All my shops were demolished, but we must follow due process,” he said.

In November, after hearing submissions from counsel, the court ordered parties to respond to the various affidavits served in the matter. 

 

The judge also advised the traders to send representatives to court on the next adjourned date instead of appearing in large numbers.

 

 

Falana had earlier, in October, sought to be joined in the suit, arguing that there was no basis for settlement following the reported killing of six traders by suspected hoodlums after the demolition.