THE DEATH OF OTUMARA: OPEN LETTER TO LAGOS SPEAKER, OBASA BY JEFFERY ANYASI – Rights Monitors

• THE DEATH OF OTUMARA: A CRIME AGAINST THE POOR

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This is not just a letter, it is a funeral song. A lamentation for a people stripped of everything crushed beneath the iron wheels of power. A cry for the homeless, the broken, the betrayed.* The people of Otumara are no longer citizens in their own land; they are refugees wandering a city they once called home. And those who did this to them, their own government; must hear their wailing.

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Before the demolition, they begged.

They did not riot. They did not take up arms. They did what the law demands of peaceful citizens—they protested, they petitioned. When the seven-day eviction notice was served, they turned to the Lagos State House of Assembly, believing that their elected representatives would defend them.

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They submitted their petition in faith, trusting that the legislative arm would listen. But fate was cruel. The political storm within the Assembly drowned out their cries. Power was fighting for itself, while the poor fought for survival.

And so, when the bulldozers came, there was no shield. No intervention. No mercy.

During the demolition, horror unfolded.

Mothers clutching their children, running with nowhere to go. Fathers kneeling before the merciless machines, begging in vain for one more day. The elderly, too weak to run, watching as the walls that once sheltered them came crashing down. *Homes shattered, memories erased, lives ruined in the blink of an eye. There was no resettlement plan, no compensation, just destruction, cold and brutal.

And the worst part? It was done by those elected to protect them.

After the demolition, Lagos became a graveyard of dreams.

The night falls heavier now on Otumara’s former residents. The rain beats down on their skin, no longer shielded by roofs. Their children do not sleep; they shiver in the cold. Their women are not safe; predators lurk in the shadows. Their elders cough in the dust of their lost homes, waiting for death to take them from this misery.

Where should they go? To the streets, where the police will chase them like criminals? To the under-bridges, where they will be robbed of the little dignity left to them? To the heavens, where perhaps only death will offer them the shelter Lagos denied?

Mr. Speaker, does the Assembly exist for the rich alone?

Perhaps, in your absence from the assembly due to the political turbulence, this injustice was carried out unchecked. But now, you are back in that chair. Now, you have the power to right a terrible wrong.

Will the Lagos State House of Assembly stand as a monument to silence, or will it raise its voice for the voiceless?

You have long been a pillar of Lagos politics, a leader who understands the pulse of the people. The Otumara tragedy is now a test of your leadership, your conscience, and the very essence of the House you lead.

Lagos must be better than this. Leaders must be better than this.

We urge you to act, not with empty words but with justice.

1. Ensure the Assembly investigates this demolition and holds those responsible accountable.
2. Push for an emergency resettlement and compensation plan for the displaced residents.
3. Strengthen policies that protect vulnerable communities from unchecked evictions.

The people of Otumara are not nameless statistics. They are human beings with hearts, with hopes, with histories that your government erased in a day.

You may ignore this letter, but you can not silence the suffering. One day, power will shift, and history will ask, where were you when the people of Otumara begged for mercy?

The voiceless Otumaras await your leadership. We await your conscience.