The Lagos State Government is reportedly said to have demolished a luxury car showroom belonging to popular social media influencer and car dealer, Waris Olayinka Akinwande, better known as Ola of Lagos.
The Saturday demolition was reportedly found via a viral TikTok video shared by another automobile dealer simply identified as Ibilo, who showed the wreckage of the facility with the caption, “Lagos State Government Demolishes OOL Autos. Heavy one today.”
As of press time, the state government had not made a formal announcement about the incident, and the cause of demolition of the building was still not clear. But overall online speculations are that the building was demolished because it was alleged to have been built right under a high-tension power cable, thus breaking urban development and safety regulations.
A TikTok user, Adekunle Autoparts, affirmed, “They demolished it because he built it under a high tension line.” Another user, Sisi Noni, taking the risk of being injured by safety hazards, blamed the government’s approach. “Building under high tension is risky, but they ought to have given him time to demolish and relocate rather than destroying everything,” she shared.
The demolition is a continuation of an overall crackdown by the Lagos State Ministry of Water Resources and Environment on illegal constructions across the state. At least 17 houses built on the Right of Way (RoW) of the alignment of Ikota River in Lekki were also demolished on the same day.
Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, the enforcement exercise leader, warned residents against actions that block natural waterways or constitute a threat to the environment.
“We stopped them previously but encroachment accelerated aggressively with attempts to sell to unsuspecting consumers,” Wahab stated. In his view, the exercise was part of the government’s attempt to reclaim flood-prone areas and prevent environmental hazards.
Retrieved testimonies from the Lekki site allegedly showed a plethora of current reclamation works, sand-filling schemes, and half-completed buildings constructed directly on natural waterways violations that the state described as grave environmental dangers.
