Traders sue Lagos government over demolition of 269 Oluwole market shops
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The Lagos Merchandise and Traders Association has asked the Lagos State High Court to declare the demolition of 269 lock-up shops at Oluwole Market on Lagos Island wrongful, unlawful and unconstitutional, and is seeking damages running into hundreds of millions of naira.
The Lagos Merchandise and Traders Association, on behalf of its members, has urged the Lagos State High Court to declare the demolition of 269 lock-up shops at the Oluwole Market on Lagos Island by Lagos State government agencies wrongful, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The association filed the suit with Babro Ventures Limited and Tosh Limited. The defendants are the Lagos State Attorney-General, the Lagos State Building Control Agency, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) and the Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority.
The claimants said they were operating from lock-up shops around Nnamdi Azikiwe, Akanni, Ali-Balogun and Breadfruit Streets before the state government embarked on plans to redevelop the area. They said an earlier suit filed in 1991 was resolved through terms of settlement under which the government agreed to relocate them temporarily to kee-klamps while a modern shopping complex was constructed, and that they paid N94.15 million for leases covering 269 kee-klamps for 20 years.
They said another legal action in 2008 resulted in a judgment requiring the allocation of 169 shops at the Oluwole Urban Shopping Mall, but that only 11 shops were allocated after Phase I was completed, with the remaining shops to be provided in phases that had yet to be constructed. The second and third claimants said agreements with the Lagos State Urban Renewal Authority gave them rights to use and manage portions of the newly constructed kee-klamps for 20 years, with the tenure expected to expire on 30 November 2033.
The claimants alleged they remained in peaceful possession until April 2024, when officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency threatened to demolish the structures. They said their solicitors protested the threat on 18 April 2024, and that they met the Special Adviser to the Governor on Physical Planning on 18 and 19 April 2024 and were assured the shops would not be demolished. The kee-klamps were demolished on 21 April 2024 without an opportunity to remove their goods, they alleged.
The claimants want a declaration that the leases granted to the association over the kee-klamps, and those granted to Babro Ventures Limited and Tosh Limited over 91 kee-klamps each on the upper decks of Blocks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 10, are still subsisting. They are seeking N10 million damages for each owner of the 269 kee-klamps, N412 million for Babro Ventures Limited, N317 million for Tosh Limited and N5 million as cost of the action.
The association also urged the LSDPC to urgently resolve the dispute over the demolished shops, in a letter dated 10 September 2026 from its solicitors, S. U. Ukairo & Co., concerning two suits before the Lagos State High Court.