By Ayomide Otitoju
The Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has urged the Lagos State government to temper its ongoing demolition exercises with compassion, warning against actions that inflict “undeserved pain” on citizens.
Obi made the appeal in a statement shared on his X handle on Tuesday, days after visiting the site of the demolished ASPAMDA Market at the Trade Fair Complex. He cautioned that while legal enforcement is necessary, it should never override moral responsibility or disregard human dignity.
“The law is not an end in itself; it is a means to ensure order, peace, and the protection of human dignity,” Obi said. “When the law becomes an instrument to inflict undeserved pain—enforced without compassion or regard for human welfare—it ceases to serve justice.”
The former Anambra State governor likened the demolitions to “punishing a man who stole a bicycle with death instead of imprisonment,” describing the actions as disproportionate and destructive to livelihoods.
He questioned whether the government had exhausted less harmful alternatives such as regularisation before resorting to demolition. “Does it truly serve justice to destroy billions of naira worth of investments and livelihoods when less destructive remedies could have sufficed?” he asked.
Obi stressed that governance must always balance legality with humanity. “A government should not pride itself on being legally correct if, in the process, it becomes morally wrong. Justice, to be just, must be tempered with mercy,” he said.
The Lagos State government, however, has defended the demolitions. Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Olumide Oluyinka, maintained last week that the exercise was technical and not targeted at any ethnic group, as alleged in some quarters.
Obi concluded by describing the demolitions as “a test of our collective humanity, justice, and compassion,” calling on leaders to exercise power with empathy and fairness.
