Some evacuated occupants of a distressed building on 13/17 Breadfruit Street, Lagos Island, have allegedly tried to return in breach of a court order.
LASBCA had on May 16 evacuated occupants of the distressed building in compliance with a court order for it to be re-stabilised or demolished as directed by the stability report of the Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory submitted to the court.
In a May 13 ruling on the suit by the Attorney-General of Lagos State against African Alliance Insurance and 13 others, a Special Offences Court in Ikeja had directed LASBCA to evacuate the occupants to implement a non-destructive test (NDT) report submitted to the court by LASBCA.
The Magistrate, A. I Abina, also directed that the NDT report implementation which includes a total renovation of the building, be carried out while considering the interest of other defendants/ occupants.
But moments after the agency executed the court ruling last week and left the premises, some of the occupants came back, accompanied by security agents, and attempted to re-occupy the building.
The occupants had similarly disregarded an earlier interim order made on October 25, 2021.
The Lagos Planning Permit Authority had on August 6, 2020, granted a renovation permit to the owners of the property, African Alliance Assurance Co Ltd.
On September 28, 2020, LASBCA granted permission to the same owner to commence construction works on the property.
But the efforts to begin renovation and re-stabilisation of the structure have continued to be frustrated by some of the occupants.
