Widow seeks governor, lawmakers’ intervention over Jakande estate apartment demolition.

A Widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Adetoun Ajibola, who lost her husband, Major Olatokunbo Mohammed Ajibola, on September 26, 1992, in the ill-fated military plane crash in Ejigbo, Lagos, has appealed to the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the state House of Assembly to help correct the injustice being done to them (she and the two).

According to Ajibola, her late husband was among the military officers who died in the mishap that occurred in the ill-fated September 26, 1992 C-130 military aircraft crash at Ejigbo, Lagos State.

As a result of the incident, she was left to raise two sons, but while pondering how to navigate the burden, Lagos State government came to her aid like other widows through the allocation of a three-bedroom flat at LMB Estate, Isolo, Block 1, flat 4, otherwise known as Jakande LSPDC Estate, Isolo, Lagos.

“This help cannot be quantified, as it solved the immediate issue of shelter,” she said. åWith this provision of a roof over their heads, she added, “my children and I will remain forever grateful to the Lagos State government.”

Fate, however, dealt the family another blow, when sometime in December 2012, the allocated premises had to be demolished owing to structural defects discovered in some of the surrounding buildings, leading to the later demolition of their building around this period.

“While some widows brought together by the same fate were lucky, and were paid the princely sum of N200,000, and additionally got new allocations, my children and I strangely were not considered, because my flat was in a different building.”

Ajibola disclosed that several efforts to get the error corrected did not yield result including appeals and letters written to past governors such as Babatunde Fashola and Akinwumi Ambode, taken up pro-bono by different lawyers at different times between 2012 till date have not yielded result.

She added that letters were also written to the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation and the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, but none of the agencies followed through to ensure that the omission was corrected.

Fashola Weighs In On Lagos Street Naming Controversy, Warns Against Erasing History.

Former governor of Lagos State and ex-Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, has called for the preservation of Lagos history to avoid distortion and promote values, particularly as the discussion on street naming in Lagos continues to create controversy.
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He stated this on Tuesday at the public presentation of “Discover Lagos State: A History Puzzle Book (Volume 1)” held at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

At the event, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, also echoed the importance of documenting the state’s history, hailing the Lagos State Records and Archive Bureau for the timely presentation of the book.

Fashola referenced the works in the digital archives of the University of Glasgow, noting that the past works of the university’s staff and students played a role in influencing the historical development in other countries, even in the area of landmarks.

He said records also contain information about the first Nigerian students at the University of Glasgow at the time, including Dr Issac Ladipo Oluwole, who was enrolled in 1913 and graduated in 1918.

Referencing the archive, Fashola said, “Dr Ladipo Oluwole returned to Nigeria to become the first African medical officer of health in the Lagos colony.

“He pioneered school health services, with school inspection and vaccination of children in their schools, and started the first Nigerian school of hygiene at Yaba in Lagos in 1920. So that’s the Ladipo Oluwole. But the records were kept well in Glasgow, Scotland.

“So those of us who drive through streets such as Ladipo Oluwole Street in Ikeja will probably now understand and contextualise the contributions of such a man and why it was considered such a high honour to immortalise him by naming a street in his memory.

“But it is perhaps instructive that we are discussing street naming and street unnaming and I keep my gunpowder dry,” he added.

“Today I reiterate those words about street naming and Dr Oluwole and with a greater conviction to reinforce my message that the preservation of our history and the documentation of our progress should be taken seriously,” Fashola said.