Traders Count Losses As Police Demolish Computer Village POWA Complex

POWA Plaza.

The traders, who deal in computer and information technology gadgets at the Phases I and II of the complex, lamented that about 1,000 occupants would lose their means of livelihood if the plaza was demolished.

They claimed that some officials of the Lagos State Government with armed policemen allegedly stormed the plaza on Thursday afternoon, to give them a 24-hour deadline to vacate the over 300 shops in the POWA complex.

When our correspondent visited the plaza on Friday, it was observed that the vacation order was boldly pasted at the main gate of the POWA complex.

The vacation order with the inscription ‘Lagos State Task Force, Governor’s Office’ indicated that the traders were expected to vacate the plaza within 24 hours.

The Lagos State Government in a statement on its official X handle, @followlasg, on Sunday evening, said the government “has nothing to do with the demolition at the Computer Village in Ikeja. The structure is owned by the Police Officers Wives Association, which ordered its demolition.”

The statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, further read, “Those circulating the fake news that Lagos State Government is demolishing Computer Village are opportunistic ethnic chauvinists who will always relish in vacuous propaganda that can fuel their fiendish mission; they will always fail in dividing Lagosians.”

Gboyega Akosile, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Sanwo-Olu, could not be reached for comments on Sunday as his line was busy and a text message sent to him was not responded to.

The spokesperson for the Lagos State Task Force, Raheem Gbadeyanka, when contacted, said he did not have the facts of the incident yet.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, did not also take his calls nor respond to messages sent to him.

However, Adejobi had in a Saturday statement said there was no going back in the demolition of the building.

Adejobi said, “It has become imperative to properly establish that the complex, a property of the Nigeria Police Officers’ Wives Association, which is officially allocated to wives of police officers and their relatives, has been scheduled for demolition.

“This is to enable the Force to commence immediate construction of a modern shopping complex on the same land.”

Source:- Punchng