Maroko was popular for its mass eviction of poor masses who resided there from the early 60s to early 90s . There was a lot of controversies with the mass destruction of houses own by over 500, 000 residents of Maroko by various government administrations. In 1983, the then government of Lateef Kayode Jakande who promised to better the life and improve the living conditions of the poor people of Maroko during his electoral manifestos. Due to this promise of better standard of living for the residents of Maroko by Governor Jakande, this poor people overwhelmingly voted for him. The promise of better living for these poor inhabitants of Maroko resulted into a complete nightmare. Houses were demolished with little or no compensation for the affected residents


In 1990, Maroko community was wiped out entirely from Eti-Osa local government of Lagos state, when the then military governor in the person of Raji Rasak ruthlessly evicted the left over of Maroko in a mass houses demolition process. The community and Lagos state recorded the highest level of suicide, resulted from the houses demolition! Due to serious outcry from people of Nigeria over the unfair and unjust eviction of the Maroko inhabitants, some of them were relocated to some remote area of Lagos state in Ikota, Ije and Sangotedo, near Epe local government area.

The government argument for eviction of Maroko residents then was that the community was a slum and it needed to be defaced to give Lagos state a sort of face lift. The question is this,why would Lagos state government not adequately compensate all Maroko evictee affected? Why are there still more slum like communities like Maroko in Lagos state and the government not doing anything to improve them , why Maroko community?

According to a reliable source, some of the few aged evictees who went through hell in getting a room and parlour accommodation in Ikota area of Eti Osa Local government under the Lagos state uneven compensation scheme lunched after a huge public outcry by some independent lobbying groups are facing yet another evacuation very soon. There seems to be some looming news that this people will soon be evicted yet again for the third time. This is not going to happen in this digital age!

This is SOS cry to Lagos state government under the leadership of governor Ambode, to come to the aid of this poor individuals living in Ikota and some other poor communities in Lagos state. These poor people have had more than enough of all of the unlawful evictions which consequently make then worse off at the end of the day. If the central government cannot provide affordable housing for all and sundry which has always been the topmost of all election promises during electoral campaign, then let the sleeping dog lies and let this people enjoy the sense of community they embrace by living in their respective houses. Enough of the evacuation threat continuously imposing on poor people of Eti- Osa Local government of Lagos state.

Guys let us share this message until it gets to the appropriate authorities, let us not say it does not concern us, thank you.