Youths of Gowon Estate in Egbeda area of Lagos State have cried out over a takeover bid of a parcel of land serving as the only sporting arena in the estate.
On June 19, a group that claimed to be a task-force, stormed the area and demolished all structures around the play ground, claiming they were acting on the orders of an unnamed new owner of the property.
But youths in the area said it was unbelievable that the only space, large enough to be turned into a mini-stadium for the estate and its environs, might have been “annexed’’ by somebody.
They vowed to resist the takeover of the land, saying it will dispossess them of recreational centre that they have been using for over 20 years.
David Eghosa, President of the Youth, Gowon Estate, said: “This is the biggest recreation centre available to residents of the estate and its environs, and this should not be taken away from us.
“This is the biggest space that we have here and that most times; we, the youths use it for sporting activities.
“On a daily basis not less than 100 persons including adults use the facility for jogging or to play football and basketball. Many more use the place at weekends too.
“If they take they take away the land, it will rob us of the only facility, where we all gather to play or recreate.
“Where else do we go? My fear is that the youths may take to crime if they do not have a place to play football or carry out exercises,’’ he said.
“We need the space to practise our sports; we cannot afford to have to pay before we can have access to a facility that belongs to our community.’
Eghosa said that the facility which has a basketball court, a football pitch, was also useful to some primary and secondary schools in estate particularly for schools athletics competitions.
According to John Ademola, a civil servant: “I engage in jogging with my children at weekends to relieve stress on the playground.
“We shall be prepared to welcome either the federal or state government to convert the facility to a mini stadium which had been done in some parts of Lagos.
“It will really be worthwhile using the land to rally the youth to sports,’’ noted Awoniyi Awolesi, a legal practitioner.
A sports fan, Jonathan Igbinedun, 55, who lives close to the arena, noted that even all his children used the arena for sports while growing up in the estate.
“Now they are all abroad but they still have fond memories of the facility. How do I tell them the facility is no more.
“I am even told that top Super Eagles’ player, Taiye Taiwo, started his football career on the pitch,’’ he added.
A coach, Stanley Onwordi, who nurtured many talents in the area using the pitch, also said:“At a time that federal and state governments have been trying to cope with the upsurge in crime by re-directing the energies of the youth, it would be a disservice to youths to convert the land to other uses other than sports.’’
Also commenting on the development, Monday Aruoture, the Principal of Dee Jewels International College, located near the disputed land, said his school had been using the land for inter-house sports.
“We use the field for inter-house sports and if the field is taken away or converted to other uses, then we will not have anywhere else to use for sporting activities.
“We don’t use the field alone, all other schools around also use the place for inter-house sports.
For the Principal of Wisdom Based College, Nkechi Nwabaise, the land should be developed into a standard sports ground.
One of the users of the pitch, Uche Godwin, a football player and resident of the estate, said that he hoped that the planned takeover of the pitch would be resisted by residents.
“There is no other field in the estate named after a distinguished former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon. It will be unfair.’’
Awele Ofoegbu, a basketball player, said: “I am going to miss this court, we just raised money to fix the court recently.’’
Contacted for his comment, Nathaniel Okoro, the Chairman of Gowon Estate North Community Development Area (CDA), said that the community had resolved to retain the ground as a sports and recreation centre.
He said the CDA would resist any attempt to annex the land or convert to other uses but sports.
