Ogun State Government has stated that the demolition exercise at the Ajegunle-Araromi community in Sagamu Local Government Area was mainly to remove illegal structures on acquired land.
In a statement today, the Director General of the Bureau of Lands and Survey, Segun Fowora, dismissed allegations that the exercise was politically motivated, describing protests and agitations as a result of the demolition are not in the interest of the state.
Government officials invaded the Ajegunle-Araromi community yesterday with bulldozers to pull down structures, amid protest by owners, who said they had secured a court order restraining the government from demolishing their houses.
Fowora disclosed that the 2-kilometre corridor had been acquired by the government since 1998 along the Lagos-Ibadan highway, with necessary compensations duly paid to the original owners.
According to him, the land was set aside for industrial purposes by the previous administration, stressing that the government started serving contravention notices on the property owners in 2021 when people started encroaching on the land.