Trade Fair Market: Obi’s Comment Wrong, Building Owners Lack Approvals — Lagos

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• Were given time to regularise

BY BONNY AMADI

Lagos state government has come hard on the former labour party presidential candidate in the 2023 Nigerian general elections, Mr Peter Gregory Obi, on his statement relating the demolitions at the Lagos trade fair market complex.

Ex-Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has visited the Trade Fair Complex where Lagos State Government enforced its Physical Planning Laws.

Peter Obi on his visit to the trade fair market praised the traders for what he called their “restraint”, adding that the buildings that were knocked down had approvals.

However, the Lagos state honourable commissioner for information and strategy, Gbenga Omotosho in a reaction to Obi’s statement, dated 1st October 2025, titled “Obi was wrong” and made available to Westafrica BusinessNews, said that the owners of the demolished building have no approval and that they got ample time to regularise their papers when the state government declared last year a general amnesty, which was extended several times.

The Lagos state commissioner described Obi’s statements at the trade fair market as unfair, “He launched into emotional theatrics, describing the incident as “a test of impunity, justice and compassion” – all in an effort to mislead the public by misinformation and disinformation.” Adding “This is unfair”.

Presenting what he described as the facts of the matter, the Lagos state commissioner of information and Strategy said “The owners of the building have no approval. They got ample time to regularise their papers when the state government declared last year a general amnesty, which was extended several times. The owners shunned the offer. When Physical Planning officials visited the complex, the gates were locked against them; they were beaten up. The police rescued them. When the government called the owners for talks, they said they would not come; they did not come.

According to him, the traders’ defence is that the Management Board of the Trade Fair permitted them to build their structures, a stand he said was wrong, explaining that. “The board, which is a creation of the Federal Government to manage the complex, does not have powers to approve or regulate building developments within the complex independent of Lagos State Government”

Omotosho added that Physical Planning and building approvals are within the remit of State Governments., adding that “Under the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act (1992, as domesticated by Lagos State’s Physical Planning and Development Regulations), all physical development in any part of Lagos must obtain planning permit/approval from the Lagos State Government through its Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development”.

This position, the Lagos state commissioner said, was further clarified and reinforced by The Supreme Court judgment of 2003 (Attorney-General of Lagos State v. Attorney-General of the Federation) that land use and physical planning fall under concurrent jurisdiction, and states retain the authority to regulate development control within their territories, including federal lands, except for core areas like military formations or exclusive federal enclaves.