Some concerned residents of Magodo Phase II, a government reserved area in the Ikosi Local Government Area of Lagos State, have called for the suspension of the ongoing Constitution Review of the Magodo Residents’ Association.

This was contained in a memo co-signed by five residents – Dayo Adebayo, Gbenga Aruleba, Jamiu Mojeed, Simon Kolawole, and Azu Ishiekwene.

The memo was titled, ‘Memo: A Call to Suspend Further Review of the Constitution Immediately’ and dated August 29, 2020.


The concerned residents expressed dissatisfaction with the way the estate executives have managed the association and noted that the ongoing constitutional review was needless as it would not make the 11 officeholders in charge of the estate administration more accountable and transparent.

It also suggested the operationalisation of the recently assented but controversial Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2020 which allows the supervising minister of the Corporate Affairs Commission to suspend trustees of an association (in this case, a residential estate) and appoint interim managers to manage the affairs of the association for some given reasons.


The memo read in part, “As residents of Magodo Phase II interested in nothing other than the security, progress and wellbeing of the Estate, we are constrained to advise that the ongoing Constitution Review be suspended for now.

“The ongoing Constitution Review needs to be suspended immediately for the following reasons: The terms/framework for the review are largely bureaucratic and unwieldly; and

“While the intent and purpose appear geared towards addressing the political administration, there is very little in the content to deal with existential issues affecting residents, such as would make officeholders more accountable and transparent, and also make administration more inclusive.


“While we understand the need for a degree of decentralisation to reflect the structure and size of MRA and to give local units autonomy, we have nevertheless examined models of a number of Estate Associations in Nigeria and elsewhere in the civilised world and find nothing remotely resembling the bureaucratic model currently under consideration by the Constitution Review Committee

“These agitations and uncertain state of affairs can only further weaken effective administration. They can only further degrade our security, devalue our assets, and also widen the door for undesirable commercial interests – including the setting up of a drinking bar, a red-light zone really – increasingly making life in the Estate a nightmare.


“In light of this, we propose a simple, straightforward constitutional model, which may serve as a basis for re-organising the current management structure, to make it more efficient, transparent and responsive the needs and aspirations of residents:



Politicians arming, deploying thugs for Edo, Ondo polls -IGP
“A BOT (governed by CAMA 1990, as amended), and Executive Committee (comprising chairmen of the LOCs of the zones); Local Organising Committees (elected from the 21 zones).”


The concerned residents also said the elections of new executives for the MRA was overdue.


Trouble started towards the end of the tenure of the immediate past President of the association, Jade Niboro. The electoral committee had disqualified some candidates, while the Board of Trustees set up a Constitutional Review Committee and an Interim Management Committee to run the affairs of the association.

Speaking with our correspondent over the phone on Sunday, Niboro backed the claims of the concerned residents.

He said, “The concerned residents have a point because every constitution should be communal-based that should address the community but not geared towards targeting some groups of individuals or interests.



“Yesterday (Saturday), we were at a virtual meeting for the constitutional review and one could see a lot of flaws in it and I started thinking what was the purpose of this review? What’s wrong with the existing constitution? A constitution is not what you review all the time because it must stand the test of time.

“On what led to the constitutional review, towards the last election which was supposed to hold in February, candidates who applied were disqualified. They were told that they ought to have stayed in the estate for three years and must have attended three general meetings.



“Some met the condition but some did not. So, they were asking for a waiver and the electoral committee waived for some and did not waive for others. Does that necessitate a constitutional review? You can’t review the entire constitution because the consensus already agreed that there should be a waiver for all candidates.”

Efforts to reach the BoT chairman of the association, Chief Samuel Owojori, proved abortive as he neither picked nor returned calls put across to his line. He also did not respond to a text message sent to his phone as of the time of filing this report.


https://punchng.com/concerned-magodo-residents-reject-estate-associations-constitution-review/

Just an Estate issue, because most of the petioners are journalists, the issue is in the tabloids.

Those living in magodo see their self as the god of the mainland

longetivity:
Those living in magodo see their self as the god of the mainland

Small matters they can not resolve until the whole word hears it.