Recall the demonstration against the first Toll Gate on the Lagos Epe Expressway. The protests and demonstration by residents of the axis against the toll gate easily comes to mind now. The peaceful protests were led by prominent and popular Nigerians drawn from different walks of life. The protesters included, but were not limited to, respected industrialist Ausbeth Ajagu and Rights Activist, Bamidele Aturu. While the protestations lasted, there was no notable dissension against their activities from fellow residents which translated to the fact that theirs was a genuine cause. They later took their case before the courts where they sued the Lagos State Government and the concessionaire. The next time theaxis jumped into the news again had to do with another toll point. Besides toll collection, like the earlier protest, the second protest had to do with another first – the first axial bridge in West Africa on which the contentious toll was built. Again, like the first, this other protest also ended in the courts. The Lekki axis appears to be on its way back into the media and, again, the cause of it borders on developmental projects. This time around, a group of fellow residents are seeking to stop the construction of an ultra modern filling station along Admiralty Way. As with all bouts of pugilism, it has pitted two camps against one another. In the Red Corner are the promoters of the filling station, ASCON Oil; Lagos State Government through a couple of its agencies, Commissionerof Physical Planning and Urban Development, and a group of residents, six in all, are positioned in the Blue Corner. As was with the two previous instances, what started with petitions has landed in the courts awaiting adjudication. Whether the handful of estate residents who approached the courts could do so on behalf of the larger residents should ordinarily not come up with the simple reason being that advocacy has come to be part of the world we live in, post-19th century.
However, it becomes interesting and worthy of mention when another group of residents came up and countered the claims made by the initial group. This then calls into question the motives of both groups, to be fair to the two groups of residents and neutral too! This is more sowhen one recalls that the two instances that were earlier mentioned did not record any antagonism from fellow residents whose plight the protesters were actually advocating in the first place. Neither did it record any notable dissension that could make it sound like a house divided against itself which appears to be the case now. While one group is claiming that the proposed filling station portends everything but good to the community from causing traffic chaos to attracting bandits and source of inferno; the other group is claiming that the project is in sync with the rapid development and urbanization that the area requires. This is the scenario, though the official residents’ association has maintained sealed lips thus far, the two groups have elected not to. Beyond the internal dissension and the seeming aloofness of the official residents’ association however, a few questions beg for answers: did the Lekki Phase 1 Estate master-plan contain a filling station? Is the proposed filling station sitting on the exact plot earmarked for it in the master plan? Did the proposed filling station satisfy all requirements viz with Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Lagos State Government’s agencies in charge of building? Does it have the permission of the Lagos State New Towns Development Authority? Honest answers to these questions would reveal which of the two resident groups truly represents the interest of majority of the residents of Lekki Phase 1 Estate. It would also reveal which of the group either is playing to the gathering or simply in the campaign for objectives that are far from being in public interest. After all, genuine advocacy is supposed to be premised on the good of the majority as against the few.
By BADE ILEMOBADE
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