… As landlady calls for justice for demolition of her property by government
By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Barely 24 hours after a heavily pregnant lady, Mrs Ella Ellington, whose shop was among the shops demolished by officials of the Delta State Ministry of Lands, Surveys and Urban Development on Friday, owner of the property, Mrs Tonia Gbemre, has given the lady the sum of N100 thousand naira to startup her business again.
Mrs Ellington is a graduate of Mass Communication and heavily pregnant mother of two children who depended on the shop to feed her children.
Her shop was among the shops located at Plot 1, Block 1 in the New Layout Estate, Ugboroke in Uvwie Local Government Area, demolished early morning of Friday along with property in them by agents of the state’s Ministry of Lands, Surveys and Urban Development.
Mrs Tonia Gbemre, owner of the property, said she decided to give Mrs Wellington the money to startup her business again on compassionate ground so that “lady’s condition will not get worst because of the lost of her shop and property.”
Mrs Gbemre said she has no option than to give Mrs Ellington the money to start up her business again knowing that she will not be able to cope with the lost of her only means of livelihood.
She said as a youth who tries to earn a living for herself because of lack of jobs in country, she cannot bare to see other Nigerian youths who were also struggling to survive been mistreated by the same government that is supposed to protect them.
Mrs Gbemre, therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to help her bring those who she accused of being behind the destruction of her property to book.
She said, “I want to use this opportunity to call on President Muhammadu Buhari to prevail on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to come to my aid. We want Okowa to bring his three commissioners that are living in this estate to book because they have come to intimidate me and my tenants.
“I have been in this land since 2014 and I have been trying to provide employment for Deltans. I built 20 blocks of shops here so that people can do businesses here to feed their families.
“These commissioners have instructed Mr Emmanuel Ebitemiwei to come and destroy my shops putting the lives of those that rented the shops in danger.
“This is the reason why I am calling on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police to bring these commissioners to book because they are not above the law.
“Look at this pregnant women here. She has a shop here which she uses to assist her husband to feed the family. But today they have destroyed her shop and all her baking equipment and materials. Right now she does not have anywhere to go to do her business.
“I had to call her yesterday night because of her condition. I know she will be traumatized since the government people came to destroy her things. I asked her how much she will need to start up again and she told me she will need N35,000. But I looked at her condition and I decided to give her the sum of N100 thousand for her to start up again.
“This is what the commissioners are supposed to do for Deltans. But instead of them to use their money to make life better for Deltans, they are using their money to intimidate us.
“Look at me now, I don’t have a job but I am providing jobs for people by building this place so that I can also get something for myself. But now they have come and destroyed the shops.
“This is why the Nigerian youths are calling for the reduction of the salaries of legislators because they are not using their money to help Nigerians. They are using their money to intimidate Nigerians.
“I am a peaceful Nigerian that is why I am calling on those in authority to come to my aid and help bring these politicians to book for what they have done to me.”
Meanwhile, Mrs Ellington, who was in tears while receiving the money from Mrs Gbemre, thanked her for the gesture, noting that the money will go a long way to help her startup her business again.
She also called on the Federal and State governments to come to their aid and help all of them that their shops were destroyed to stand on their feet again.
According to Mrs Ellington who spoke to our correspondent amidst subs, “My shop is the cake shop that was totally destroyed. Everything was damage and I could not salvage anything from the wreck. Just look at me, here I am trying to do something for myself to survive. But what did I see, the government that was supposed to give us jobs are now the ones destroying the little jobs we already have.
“So I am using this opportunity to call on the government to come and do the right thing. I am a graduate of Mass Communication. There are no jobs anywhere and I am trying to do a small business to survive, but look at my shop, it has been demolished. Where do I start from. Please the government should try and do something for us.
“Yesterday when they destroyed my shop I could not sleep at night because I was supposed to deliver a job to a client but I could not because the cake I baked was totally destroyed. I had to refund the money I collected from the clients because I could not deliver the job. I have lost clients because of what happened yesterday.
“I want to say I big thank you to my landlady for the cash donation she gave me to start up again. I want to plead with the government to come to our aid too.”
Another youth, Mr Wisdom Oniyegunta, who works in one of the laundry shops which was also affected by the demolition, said he has been working in that shop since last last year, adding that the shop was his only means of livelihood.
He said, “I have been working here for the past one year. When I came to work yesterday I discovered that my store and my neighbors stores have been destroyed. I did not know what happened. So right now I don’t have a job to do again because I don’t have money to go and look for another store. I am calling on the state government to come to our aid.”
