Banana Island Property owners/residents’ association has expressed disaffection over the Apple Island project being promoted by the Nigerian Army Properties Limited (NAPL).
The residents said they met the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai when he visited the site of the proposed Apple Island and expressed their grievances over the project, which made him to stop the elaborate ground breaking ceremony.
NAPL has last week erected a signpost in Banana Island in Ikoyi Local Government Area of Lagos for the development of its iconic Apple Island off the shore of the island.
According to the chairman of the association, Mr. Chudi Ubosi, the land was handed over to the association by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, about 10 years ago to build a recreational/boat club in the area.
Banana Island is Nigeria’s most expensive neighbourhood on equal status with the seventh arrondissement in Paris, La Jolla in San Diego, California and Tokyo’s Shibuya or the Roppongi neighbourhoods.
Sitting on 1.6 million square metres, the island is divided into 535 plots with sizes of 1,000 and 3,000 square metres.
He said: ”We didn’t know what they wanted to do there. They told us that they were expecting the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), to host him.
Initially we had our signpost there, which signifies that the land was to be used for a boat club with a small jetty.
A resident, shared his experience: "A battalion of soldiers had created panic last Monday when they stormed the estate."
He claimed that the armed men destroyed the estate jetty fence and signboard on the premise that it was part of the Apple Island.
He said, “On Monday, May 28, the eve of Democracy Day, some armed military men came to destroy our jetty and everything we had there. They came in through the estate gate and stationed themselves there till Friday. They claimed to be acting on the orders of the Nigerian Army Property Limited. Despite our protest, they wanted to go ahead with the inauguration.
“On Friday, some of us challenged the illegality of militarising the estate and we asked them to leave. Around 4pm, the soldiers were withdrawn.
“However, on Saturday, we saw armed policemen and we decided to mobilise as residents when we got the information that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, was on his way to inaugurate the said Apple Island.
“We decided to form a human shield as he was coming down from his car. We expressed our anger at the militarisation of a civilian estate and the destruction of our property. We told him that we had approval to have a jetty on the estate which they claimed was the take-off point of their Apple Island. We also said they could not use an existing estate as an access to another estate.”
Wahab, who showed our correspondent a video clip of the encounter, said the COAS appeased them by saying he had only visited to see the site.
He added that the military boss promised that the damage would be repaired and nothing would be done without the consent of the residents.
“We do not have a problem with Apple Estate. However, our concerns are that they want to use Banana Island access road by destroying the play area, the recreation area and the jetty area. They want to use them as access to their own Island. We do not agree because they will be disrupting the master plan of our estate and killing people’s investments. Banana Island is what it is because some people invested their money, resources and time,” he said.
The residents said they met the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Tukur Buratai when he visited the site of the proposed Apple Island and expressed their grievances over the project, which made him to stop the elaborate ground breaking ceremony.
NAPL has last week erected a signpost in Banana Island in Ikoyi Local Government Area of Lagos for the development of its iconic Apple Island off the shore of the island.
According to the chairman of the association, Mr. Chudi Ubosi, the land was handed over to the association by the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, about 10 years ago to build a recreational/boat club in the area.
Banana Island is Nigeria’s most expensive neighbourhood on equal status with the seventh arrondissement in Paris, La Jolla in San Diego, California and Tokyo’s Shibuya or the Roppongi neighbourhoods.
Sitting on 1.6 million square metres, the island is divided into 535 plots with sizes of 1,000 and 3,000 square metres.
He said: ”We didn’t know what they wanted to do there. They told us that they were expecting the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), to host him.
Initially we had our signpost there, which signifies that the land was to be used for a boat club with a small jetty.
A resident, shared his experience: "A battalion of soldiers had created panic last Monday when they stormed the estate."
He claimed that the armed men destroyed the estate jetty fence and signboard on the premise that it was part of the Apple Island.
He said, “On Monday, May 28, the eve of Democracy Day, some armed military men came to destroy our jetty and everything we had there. They came in through the estate gate and stationed themselves there till Friday. They claimed to be acting on the orders of the Nigerian Army Property Limited. Despite our protest, they wanted to go ahead with the inauguration.
“On Friday, some of us challenged the illegality of militarising the estate and we asked them to leave. Around 4pm, the soldiers were withdrawn.
“However, on Saturday, we saw armed policemen and we decided to mobilise as residents when we got the information that the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, was on his way to inaugurate the said Apple Island.
“We decided to form a human shield as he was coming down from his car. We expressed our anger at the militarisation of a civilian estate and the destruction of our property. We told him that we had approval to have a jetty on the estate which they claimed was the take-off point of their Apple Island. We also said they could not use an existing estate as an access to another estate.”
Wahab, who showed our correspondent a video clip of the encounter, said the COAS appeased them by saying he had only visited to see the site.
He added that the military boss promised that the damage would be repaired and nothing would be done without the consent of the residents.
“We do not have a problem with Apple Estate. However, our concerns are that they want to use Banana Island access road by destroying the play area, the recreation area and the jetty area. They want to use them as access to their own Island. We do not agree because they will be disrupting the master plan of our estate and killing people’s investments. Banana Island is what it is because some people invested their money, resources and time,” he said.