Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has condemned what it described as the violent, unlawful, and reprehensible actions of the Lagos State Government and the Nigerian Police Force against hundreds of peaceful victims of illegal demolitions, assault, and killings who gathered at the Lagos State House of Assembly on Wednesday, January 28, 2026.
In a statement issued after the incident, CAPPA said security operatives led by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood, attacked hundreds of displaced residents who had gathered at the Assembly complex to express their grievances over the ongoing demolitions and forced evictions across waterfronts and low-income communities in the state.
CAPPA demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Comrade Hassan Taiwo Soweto, a member of the #EndBadGovernance Movement in Lagos State, alongside other demonstrators arrested during the protest.
The organisation said Soweto, alongside several peaceful protesters including Comrade Jacob Akiri and Evangelist Isaac Doosuga, a septuagenarian from Makoko, were forcibly seized by police officers after the Commissioner of Police ordered the use of tear gas on the crowd.
CAPPA described the incident as a flagrant violation of constitutional rights and a continuation of what it called the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration’s pattern of repression, lawlessness, and cruelty against poor and displaced communities. It said the actions of the state authorities showed a shocking disregard for human dignity, the rule of law, and democratic norms.
This violent behaviour by the state, the organisation added, has reportedly led to the deaths of 12 persons in Makoko, including a five-day-old baby, as well as many others across demolished communities.
Speaking further on the events that unfolded at the State House of Assembly, CAPPA noted that the protest was entirely peaceful. It said that displaced residents, including elderly men and women whose homes and livelihoods had been destroyed, had marched for hours peacefully from Ikeja Under-Bridge to the State House of Assembly to formally present their grievances to lawmakers.
“Unfortunately, lawmakers who briefly came out to address the protesters, including Ogundipe Stephen Olukayode, Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, refused to allow the protesters access to the Assembly premises or the amphitheatre, a public civic space meant for citizen engagement. Exhausted protesters, including elderly persons, were denied seats and even the most basic courtesies,” the CAPPA statement noted
The organisation said that despite the refusal, the protesters remained calm and orderly, insisting only on their right to be heard while proceeding to sit on the grounds outside under the hot sun. It stated that the situation escalated only after security agents deployed tear gas and violent force without provocation.
CAPPA said police officers fired tear gas canisters directly at unarmed protesters, with lawmakers fully aware of the situation, triggering injuries and panic. It reported that a community member, Kafayat Muftaudeen, was struck on the leg by a tear gas canister and remains hospitalised, with surgery being considered.
It added that another victim, a journalist covering the protest, Oluwaferanmi Oladipupo of Daily Family, was severely affected by tear gas exposure and placed on oxygen, alongside other victims, including Jennifer Rita Obiora, a medical professional and member of the #EndBadGovernance Lagos State chapter, who was also brutalised and rushed to the hospital.
The organisation further said several protesters reported the forceful seizure and theft of personal belongings and work tools by police officers, describing the actions as unacceptable, criminal, and dangerous to press freedom and civic space.
Responding to claims by the Lagos State House of Assembly that unruly behaviour by Soweto allegedly escalated the situation, CAPPA dismissed the assertion as false and misleading. The organisation said Soweto repeatedly urged protesters to remain peaceful and encouraged them to sit calmly outside the Assembly complex after lawmakers refused them entry. It added that this account is clearly verifiable in all available video recordings of the incident.
CAPPA stated that the Commissioner of Police appeared to have taken personal offence at Soweto’s public criticism of the continued use of brute force by police officers against displaced communities, which the organisation said had resulted in deaths, including those of infants, during demolition exercises.
According to the organisation, the police action against Soweto was deliberate and targeted. It said the Commissioner of Police advised some protesters to move away and disassociate themselves from him at the Assembly ground, forcibly seized him, and deployed tear gas against the crowd, leaving several protesters disoriented.
The organisation also rejected claims that the Lagos State House of Assembly had earlier committed to intervening in the demolitions during a previous engagement with protesters on January 15. It said demolitions continued after that meeting and that affected residents were later informed by some other lawmakers, during a private meeting, that there was no possibility of definitive intervention because their entire land had been sold off. It added that the lawmakers advised community members to prepare for eventual eviction within five years.
CAPPA said the latest incident demonstrated what it described as the Lagos State Government’s insensitivity and the active role of the Commissioner of Police in aggravating the suffering of displaced residents. It said the conduct of the police leadership showed vindictiveness and a lack of restraint expected of public officeholders.
Quoting its Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, the organisation said the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful protest were guaranteed under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and protected under international human rights law.
Oluwafemi was quoted as saying there was no legal, moral, or political justification for the use of tear gas or force against unarmed citizens and journalists exercising their rights. He added that the incident reflected a growing pattern of responding to civic dissent with repression rather than dialogue, particularly when protests exposed failures around demolitions and forced evictions carried out without adequate notice, compensation, or humane resettlement.
CAPPA demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters detained during the protest.
The organisation also called on the Lagos State Government to immediately suspend the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Jimoh Moshood, over what it described as his central role in destabilising a peaceful protest, ordering the use of force against unarmed citizens, and falsely claiming that no protester was injured.
CAPPA further demanded the immediate return of all personal belongings, work tools, and electronic devices allegedly seized or stolen from protesters and journalists by police officers during the crackdown, including a music van with speakers, as well as personal handbags and other property belonging to protesters.
In addition, the organisation called for the immediate suspension of all demolition and forced eviction operations across Lagos State and demanded independent investigations into reported killings in Makoko, Owode, Oworonshoki, and other affected communities, as well as the excessive use of force against protesters, with all those responsible held accountable.
CAPPA urged the Nigerian Police Force to end what it described as its routine use of violence against peaceful demonstrators, Lagosians, and journalists and called on the Speaker and members of the Lagos State House of Assembly to engage affected communities in good faith rather than endorsing or enabling state violence.
The organisation warned that it would not hesitate to mobilise civil society, affected communities, and the wider public against what it described as escalating state injustice if its demands were not met.