Residents Plead Rethink On Order To Vacate Lekki Gardens Estate

Residents of Lekki Gardens Estate located along Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos State have called on Governor Akinwunmi Amobode to have a rethink on his vacation order given to the residents of the estate.

There appears to be no sign of any resident of the estate moving out as at the weekend.

Following the collapse of a five-storey building belonging to Lekki Gardens Estate Limited, which claimed several lives, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode while inspecting the site last week directed all occupants of the estate to relocate to allow for integrity tests to be conducted on all properties owned by the developer within the estate.

But according to The Guardian, investigations at the weekend showed that, no resident has moved as directed by the Governor, as activities have returned to normal in the wide estate.

The resident association met over the weekend. They resolved to engage the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development and the governor on the directive to vacate their buildings.

An official of the association said: “We need to know the issues, hence we will be meeting with both the commissioner and Governor.”

She added: “This guy (Lekki Garden) should not be persecuted but be encouraged as Lekki Garden has shown to have delivered so much housing units within a very short time.”

According to her, the residents would have to be part of the process of carrying out any tests on their property. “We need to know what the issues are. We should know whether the buildings complained about have issues of compliance or structurally defective.”

The resident, who confirmed no resident has moved asked: “Where are we or our tenants moving to. What is the relocation plan? Nobody has spoken to us on the way forward, apart from what we read on the newspapers.”

A commercial motorcyclist, also said he was yet to see anybody packing out of the estate. Speaking in pigin English, he said: “Nobody is moving out, as I am yet to see any of the residents packing out.”