Chijioke Edeoga faults Enugu demolitions, says government insensitive

Chijioke Edeoga, governorship candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections in Enugu, has condemned the recent demolition of property by the state government.

He said the government embarked on these demolitions without first consulting the people and communities affected.

In a statement, the politician also lamented the “destruction of a private polytechnic belonging to a charismatic preacher and founder of Madonna University, Rev. F. Emmanuel Ede”.

“If there have been suspicions that the administration in Enugu state is insensitive to public sentiment and disdainful of the rule of law, the demolition of OSISATECH tended to validate it,” the statement reads.

”It is scary that a government that swore to uphold the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is routinely disobeying court orders.

“The demolition of shops, a section of the Ogige Market is also quite troubling. This is because of the dislocation of hundreds of businesses on which the livelihoods of ordinary people and their families are dependent.”

Acknowledging the need for urban renewal, Edeoga said relocation and compensation plans should have been put in place before the demolitions.

He called on the government to compensate those affected, build new markets, and demonstrate respect for the law and court orders.

“While it is understood that some of those areas demolished have constituted challenges of congestion and are due for some form of urban renewal, it must be recognized that no urban renewal activity has ever happened in one fell swoop,” Edeoga added.

“The essence of government everywhere in the world is the aggregation of the needs of the people into a pool where common solutions are incubated; it is the building of consensus on what constitutes the common good, bearing in mind the social, economic, and even personal sensitivities.

“The Enugu State Government must take immediate steps to respect court orders as is the practice in every civilized democratic country.

“A culture of disrespect to the judiciary is tantamount to disloyalty to the Constitution which provides for three independent arms of government that act as checks on one another.”