Demolition: Don’t aggravate people’s hardship, Peter Obi tells Sanwo-Olu, Wike

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election, Peter Obi, has berated the President Bola Tinubu-led frderal government over the demolition of properties belonging to Nigerians in Lagos State amid the hardship in the country.
There have been reports of demolition exercise by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led Lagos State government allegedly targeting markets populated by Igbos and buildings owned by Igbos in the state.
Reacting to the demolition exercises in Lagos and other parts of the country, Obi who is a former governor of Anambra State said that it is irresponsible of the states and federal governments to carry out demolition exercises on the properties of poor Nigerians amid rising poverty in the country.
On his X (formerly Twitter), Obi on Thursday said, “It’s with complete despondency and unhappiness that I have followed the ongoing demolitions of properties across the country, especially knowing the extra hardship such acts have been heaping on hapless citizens who are already battling with multi-dimensional Poverty.”
According to him, “What a responsive government should be doing under the current harsh economic conditions  in the country is to come up with measures aimed at alleviating the people’s hardships and to carry out measures that will take more people out of poverty.
“Even if there are some violations as the governments are claiming, this critical time is not auspicious for such an exercise knowing the hardship in the land and the consequences it will have on the poor who are struggling to make ends meet with their little resources.
“The poor in our midst who are putting their meager resources are going through very severe financial stress that should not be multiplied further. In some cases, the properties being demolished are the lifetime savings and retirement abodes of the aged and incapacitated.”
He added, “My appeal therefore is for the respective governments involved in this act to consider the hardship in the country and try to put a human face to their actions.
“While we should enforce sensible regulations, all actions of the government must show compassion.”