Wale Ajetunmobi, the Special Assistant on Media to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has advised former presidential candidate Peter Obi to lodge a formal complaint with the police regarding the demolition of his brother’s property in Lagos.
The statement follows Obi’s social media post in which he narrated how his younger brother’s company building in Ikeja, Lagos, was demolished under unclear circumstances.
According to Obi, the property, which had stood for over 15 years, was brought down without proper notice or identifiable legal grounds.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter), Obi wrote, “This morning, my youngest brother called me frantically, informing me that a group of people had invaded his company property in Ikeja, Lagos, and were demolishing the building.
He had just come in from Port Harcourt and was denied entry to the property by security men who told him the building was being pulled down.
“They even informed him that this demolition had started over the weekend. As a peace-loving Nigerian, he quickly started processing to go to court immediately, not knowing what must have resulted in this, as they moved fast to destroy his home without any restraint.”
Obi continued, explaining how he visited the site himself and was nearly denied access.
“I humbly pleaded with them that the property belonged to my brother’s company, and from the records, the company had owned the property for over a decade.
“They told me they had a court judgment, and I immediately requested it. You would not believe that the court judgment they claim was issued against an unknown person, and squatters. I went further to ask about a demolition order or permit, and there was none,” he said.
“How do you sue an unknown person? How does a court issue a judgment in such a farce of a case? No one was served. No name was written. Yet they showed up with excavators and began destroying a structure that had stood for over 15 years,” Obi added.
Although Obi did not explicitly blame the Lagos State Government, several online users speculated that the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, might have played a role.
Responding to the growing criticism, Sanwo-Olu’s media aide, Wale Ajetunmobi, defended the commissioner, stating, “Tokunbo Wahab won’t come out to answer questions about a demolition he never sanctioned. Peter Obi should report the matter to the police. They will help him find people who ordered the building’s demolition.”
He emphasized that Wahab’s responsibilities do not include issuing legal rulings or demolition orders.
“Whatever game Peter Obi wants to play, first things first, Who is responsible for the demolition has to be well stated. If he can’t reach them, he should go to the police station and report. A commissioner who doesn’t issue court orders should not be questioned,” Ajetunmobi said.
He also pointed out the public’s frequent misunderstanding of the commissioner’s duties.
“People probably think HC Tokunbo Wahab’s primary job is to demolish people’s houses. They can’t differentiate between removal of contraventions along drainage/canal’s right-of-way and demolition of distressed buildings, which is out of HC Wahab’s purview,” he added.
