Automobile technicians stage protest at Assembly over ejection order
Scores of automobile technicians yesterday
staged a protest at the Lagos State House of
Assembly Complex, over ejection by the state
ministry of environment.
The technicians, under the aegis of
Nigeria Automobile Technicians
Association (NATA), Lagos Mainland
chapter, said that the three-day ejection
order was arbitrary and an attempt to
deprive them of their only means of
livelihood.
The protesters, who chanted solidarity
songs endlessly, also displayed placards
with messages such as “NATA, we do pay
our tax,” “NATA Mainland Chap SOS,”
“NATA is 4 APC,” “NATA, we are law
abiding citizens,” “We are responsible
citizens,” and “Why is Lagos after us,
this is double standard.”
Leader of the group, Rasak Mumuni,
explained that the commissioner for the
environment had stormed their base
under the Third Mainland Bridge on
Friday, November 6 and gave them three
days’ notice to quit the place.
Mumini said, “He said that we should
leave the place. We are under the Third
Mainland Bridge, and the place was used
as the equipment office of PGH
Construction company.
The place had been abandoned by the
government for over 30 years and it
became a hideout for hoodlums. We got
permission to use the place from the
former chairman of Lagos Island Local
Government, Hon. Adekanye Oladele aka
Lado.
“We had been trying to get permission
for the place before then and we have
evidence that the place was given to us.
The Chairman told us to look for a place
and he said that we should start using
the place and keep it clean. That was
how we eventually got this place over
one year ago,” he said.
Mumuni pleaded with the government to
reverse the ejection order since they had
been told not to use the roadside as
workshop anymore.
He said that they had spent a lot of
money on the site, which he said was
swampy and used to serve as hideout for
hoodlums. “We are pleading with the
state government and the Lagos State
House of Assembly to come to our aid
because we took care of the site and
provided security in the area. We have
over 1000 members, we just picked
representatives from each unit to stage
the protest,” Mumini said
State General Secretary of NATA, Kayode
Ayodele, stated that the state ought to
provide an alternative for the
technicians, while appealing that the
matter should be reversed by the
government.
However, in a petition addressed to the
Speaker of the Lagos State House of
Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa, by the
lawyers of the technicians, Olawale A.
Bashorun & Partners and dated Monday
9th November, 2015, the technicians
stated that due process was followed
before they got the parcel of land
measuring 460 square metres and that
they have spent over N30 Million to put
it in the current state.
Our clients wrote a letter of request for
mechanic village to the Ministry of
Environment through the then Executive
Chairman of Lagos Mainland Local
Government, in the person of Hon.
Adekanye R. Oladele (LADO) on the 29th
July, 2013,” the letter read in part.
They, however, appealed to the Lagos
State House of Assembly to intervene in
the matter so that they could go back to
work.
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