Women from the Ilaje community in Lagos State have threatened to stage a nude protest in response to what they describe as the ongoing demolition of their ancestral settlements.
On Tuesday, August 19, hundreds of demonstrators under the banner of Egbe Omo Ilaje marched to the Lagos State House of Assembly in Alausa, Ikeja, calling on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Speaker Mudashiru Obasa to urgently intervene.
The protesters accused some traditional rulers of acting as “land grabbers” and orchestrating the demolition of Ilaje communities.
One elderly demonstrator, who identified herself as Ifagbemi, said the women were prepared to storm the palaces of the implicated monarchs unclad if the government failed to act.
She declared: “We are the original settlers of Lagos. Our ancestors moved from Ilaje to Ebute-Ero, then known as Olobun. If the government ignores us, we will strip ourselves and confront these monarchs. We want peace, but we also want justice.”
The President-General of Egbe Omo Ilaje Worldwide, Rafael Irowainu, accused some monarchs of exploiting President Bola Tinubu’s name to justify unlawful demolitions.
He said: “Some royal fathers have abandoned their duty of upholding justice and have turned into land grabbers. They falsely claim President Tinubu sent them, but we know he did not. These actions are fraudulent and unlawful.”
Irowainu further alleged that some of the monarchs involved were not Lagos indigenes but hailed from Osun and Ekiti States.
Another protester, Wole Adewusi, lamented that many landlords had lost their homes and livelihoods, leaving families in hardship. “Our wives and children are suffering. We are appealing to Governor Sanwo-Olu to rescue us from these so-called Obas who have become land grabbers,” he said.
Similarly, the Lagos State Chairman of Egbe Omo Ilaje, Prince Oluwajimusu, condemned what he described as attempts to erase Ilaje heritage.
“You cannot write the history of Lagos without the Ilaje. What is happening is unjust. We will not continue to live as slaves in our own land. By 2027, we will decide our political future,” he warned.
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