Constitutional and human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, has accused the Lagos State Government of disobeying and disregarding a valid High court Order by embarking on the demolition of at least 100 properties in Oworonsoki area of te State.
Justice Adegboyega Balogun of the Lagos State High Court had last Thursday, October 23, 2025, granted and issued an interim injunction stopping further demolition of properties in parts of Oworonsoki.
The court order followed complaints by affected residents who said they were not paid any form of compensation for their properties.
Accordingly, Justice Balogun granted a restraining order against the respondents, their agents or contractors from carrying out further demolitions or creating third-party interests over properties located on Ojileru Street, Ososa Extension, and Toluwalase Street within the Itesiwaju Ajumoni Community Development Area (CDA).
But, despite the court order, the Lagos State government in the midnight of Saturday, carried out the demolition.
Following the development, Mr. Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), while condemning the demolition, noted that the exercise has rendered many families homeless and practically displaced.
Falana noted that the demolition by the Lagos State government was a flagrant breach and contempt of a subsisting court order, stressing that upon the service of the court order on them, the defendants mobilised over 50 armed policemen and thugs who fired teargas throughout the night to disperse those protesting the demolition and proceeded to commence a fresh demolition.
In the words of Falana; “The demolition, which was carried out in the dead of the night, has led to the destruction of not less than 100 properties, with many families displaced.
“The action of the demolition squad was not authorised by any court. The action of the demolished squad is a sad reminder of the aggravated contempt committed by the Lagos State Government, 39 years ago, in the celebrated case of The Military Governor of Lagos State & Ors. v. Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu & Anor. (1986) 2 NWLR (PT 18) 621, where the Supreme Court set a precedent against disregard for due process and the rule of law.
“Notwithstanding that the country was then under a military junta, the Supreme Court deprecated the action of the Lagos State Government in defying a court order and resorting to self-help.
“For making a mockery of the rule of law, Obaseki JSC of blessed memory had this to say: ‘In the area where the rule of law operates, the rule of self-help by force is abandoned. Nigeria, being one of the countries in the world, even in the third world, which proclaims loudly to follow the rule of law, there is no room for the rule of self-help by force to operate. Once a dispute has arisen between a person and the government or authority, and the dispute has been brought before the court, thereby invoking the judicial powers of the state. it is the duty of the government to allow the law to take its course or allow the legal and judicial process to run its full course.”
