Mudslide death: ‘We fled from Boko Haram to Lagos’

An indigene of Borno State, who fled the Boko Haram insurgency to Lagos, has called on the Lagos State government to come to their aid.

Hassan Aji, who resides in the slum, popularly called Kurata in Agidingbi Ikeja, made the call on Tuesday after a mudslide killed one of the residents of the slum.

A 16-year-old teenager, Faisa, who like Aji is from Borno State and resides in the slum, had been killed by a mudslide on Tuesday after days of heavy rainfall.

Appealing to the state government for help, Aji said, “We are all from Borno State. We left our villages because of Boko Haram. We relocated here about two years ago. Our villages are deserted.

“As I speak with you, I don’t know where my mother is. I have two wives and seven children and if the government sends us away from here, I don’t know where to go.”

After arriving Lagos from Borno, one of the slum’s resident, Ibrahim Aliu said they paid N24,000 per year as rent to some men who claimed to be working for the Lagos State Government to reside there.

It was gathered that there were about 100 people saying in the slum, which is located on Dosumu Street, Off Amara Olu Road, Agidingbi.

Majority of them are believed to be indigenes of Borno State, who fled the Boko Haram insurgency to Lagos.

The General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Michael Akindele, said the slum was not habitable.

He said, “The area is a buffer zone which is not good for human settlement. The Lagos State Government has been sensitising people staying in flood-prone areas and wetland to vacate such areas to avert loss of lives especially, during this rainy season.”

SOURCE: PUNCHNG