The Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 general elections, Mr Peter Obi, has expressed displeasure with the gale of demolition of buildings across the country.

He lamented that the exercise would increase poverty and hardship in the country.

“It’s with complete despondency and unhappiness that I have followed the ongoing demolitions of property across the country, especially knowing the extra hardship such acts have been heaping on hapless citizens who are already battling with multi-dimensional poverty,” Mr Obi said in a series of tweets on Thursday.

Mr Obi said building demolitions amid economic hardship in the country are ill-timed and counterproductive for a country with millions of its citizenry in multidimensional poverty.

“Even if there are some violations as the governments are claiming, this critical time is not auspicious for such an exercise knowing the hardship in the land and the consequences it will have on the poor who are struggling to make ends meet with their little resources.

“The poor in our midst who are putting their meagre resources are going through severe financial stress that should not be multiplied further. In some cases, the property being demolished are the lifetime savings and retirement abodes of the aged and incapacitated,” Mr Obi said.

Appealing to various state governments carrying out demolitions to put human face to their decision, Mr Obi further said “what a responsive government should be doing under the current harsh economic conditions in the country is to come up with measures aimed at alleviating the people’s hardships and to carry out measures that will take more people out of poverty.”

Mr Obi’s reaction is in response to the demolitions embarked upon by the Lagos State government against buildings violating the state’s master plan.

In a statement on the demolitions from the state’s environment and water resources ministry, developers in the area were served contravention notices since the year 2000, over a decade ago.

It noted that the demolished buildings were on “right of way, obstructing the water carriage way from 15 meters to 3metres.”

“We cannot write the story of Lagos without the unfortunate incident of flash flood. We are all aware that flooding is caused by natural forces as well as anthropogenic factors, one of which is building on flood plains and right of way of drainages,” the statement added.