Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi, has criticised the recent demolition of structures at Aspamda Market in Lagos, describing the action as a “punishment that far outweighs any alleged infraction.” He called on government authorities to temper law enforcement with empathy and justice.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and titled “Lagos Demolitions: Law, Justice, and Compassion,” Obi stressed that governance must reflect humanity and warned that the law should not be applied in a way that inflicts unnecessary suffering.
“Those seeking to justify the demolitions in Aspamda Market and elsewhere must remember that the law is not an end in itself but a means to ensure order, peace, and the protection of human dignity,” he stated.
While acknowledging the importance of regulatory compliance, Obi argued that enforcement should never come at the expense of human welfare. “When the law becomes an instrument to inflict undeserved pain, enforced without compassion or regard for human welfare, it ceases to serve justice,” he said.
The former Anambra State governor recalled a personal experience in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, where a property dispute involving squatters was resolved lawfully without the use of force or demolition. He questioned whether destruction was the only option available to the Lagos authorities, adding that even if some traders lacked proper permits, demolition was a “disproportionate response.”
“Punishing a man who stole a bicycle with death instead of imprisonment would be unjust and that is what this feels like,” Obi remarked.
He further urged leaders to prioritise moral responsibility alongside legal correctness, insisting that “a government should not pride itself on being legally right if, in the process, it becomes morally wrong.”
Obi described the incident as a test of Nigeria’s collective conscience, emphasising that leadership must always reflect empathy toward the vulnerable. “Power must always be exercised with empathy, for it is in how we treat the vulnerable that the true character of leadership is revealed,” he concluded, reiterating his familiar phrase, “A new Nigeria is possible.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Government has defended the demolition exercise, maintaining that it acted within the confines of the law.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, made the clarification following criticism from Senator Victor Umeh, who described the operation as illegal, arguing that the Trade Fair Complex, where the demolitions occurred, is federal property under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government’s Trade Fair Management Board.
“The country is governed by laws and the constitution,” Umeh said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. “It is disappointing that the Lagos Commissioner for Physical Planning justified an illegal action. The Trade Fair Complex is federal land; it is not under Lagos State’s control.”
Responding via his official X (formerly Twitter) account, Wahab dismissed the allegations, insisting that the state acted within its legal mandate.
“When it comes to Lagos State, everyone suddenly becomes an expert. Was it illegal when Governor Alex Otti cleared contraventions in Abia or when Governor Soludo did the same in Anambra? Every action we take in Lagos is backed by the law, and we stand by them,” he wrote.
