Maroko was a community in

Eti-Osa Eti-Osa is a Local Government Area of Lagos State in Nigeria. Lagos State Government administers the council area as Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA, Eti-Osa East, and Iru Victoria Island LCDA. Within Eti-Osa are several important areas of Lagos State, inc ...

Lagos State Lagos State (, ) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West, Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, Nigerian states, Lagos is the second List of Nigerian states by population, most populous state but the List of Nigerian states by area, smallest ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. It was adjacent to

Ikoyi Ikoyi is the most affluent neighborhood of Lagos, located in Eti-Osa Local Government Area. It lies to the northeast of Obalende and adjoins Lagos Island to the west, and at the edge of the Lagos Lagoon. Popular with the extreme upper class r ...

and east of

Victoria Island Victoria Island () is a large island in the Arctic Archipelago that straddles the boundary between Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the eighth-largest island in the world, and at in area, it is Canada's second-largest i ...

. It was a low-income area that attracted a lot of migrants since it was in close proximity to economically robust areas. Flooding and sand-filling affected Maroko during its life.SERAC files Maroko Communication before the African Commission
" Social and Economic Rights Action Centre. 19 December 2008. Retrieved on 1 September 2011.

Demolition

In July 1990, Maroko settlement was made up of

Ijaw Ijaw may refer to: *Ijaw people The Ijaw people, also known as the Izon people, are an ethnic group found in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria, with primary Population, population clusters in Bayelsa State, Bayelsa, Delta State, Delta, and River ...

and

Ilaje Ìlàje is a Local Government Area in Ondo State, South-West Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Igbokoda. The Ilajes are a distinct migratory coastal linguistic group of Yoruba peoples spread along the coastal belts of Ondo, Ogun, ...

people amongst other

yorubas The Yoruba people ( ; , , ) are a West African ethnic group who inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, which are collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outsid ...

. The Lagos State government, under civilian governor Alhaji Lateef Jakande attempted the first eviction of the settlement in 1980, which led to riots where government workers lost their lives. The military administrator

Raji Rasaki Raji Alagbe Rasaki (born 7 January 1947) is a retired brigadier general in the Nigerian Army who served as military governor of Ogun State, Ondo State, and Lagos State between 1986 and 1991 during the military administration of General Ibrahim ...

, evicted the residents of Maroko and demolished the community. The government said that Maroko was below sea level and needed to be filled in with sand and that Maroko needed infrastructure improvements.Megbolu, Chinazor.
Nigeria: Groups Seek Justice for Maroko Evictees
" ''

This Day ''This Day'' is a Nigerian national newspaper. It is the flagship newspaper of Leaders & Company Ltd., and was first published on 22 January 1995. It has its headquarters in Apapa, Lagos State. Founded by Nduka Obaigbena, the chairman and edit ...

''. 23 September 2009. Retrieved on 1 September 2011. About 300,000 people lost their houses.Agbola and Jinadu 272. It was one of the largest forced evictions in Nigerian history. The former residents tried to get compensation in the Nigerian court system. In December 2008, the Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) and

Debevoise & Plimpton Debevoise & Plimpton LLP is an international white-shoe law firm headquartered in New York City, with offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Luxembourg. The firm specializes in intellectual ...

, filed a communication with the

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) is a quasi-judicial body tasked with promoting and protecting human rights and collective (peoples') rights throughout the African continent as well as interpreting the African Char ...

, stating that the eviction violated the

African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (also known as the Banjul Charter) is an international human rights instrument that is intended to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the African continent. It emerged under ...

In media

''The Beatification of Area Boy'' (1995), a play written by

Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...

, has its plot woven around the infamous eviction of Maroko residents. Maroko is a setting in the book ''

Graceland Graceland is a mansion on a estate in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, once owned by American singer Elvis Presley. Presley is buried there, as are his parents Vernon and Gladys, paternal grandmother Minnie Mae, grandson Benjamin, and daugh ...

'' (2004) by Chris Abani.

References

External links

* Agbola, Tunde and A. M. Jinadu.
Forced Eviction and Forced Relocation in Nigeria: the Experience of those evicted from Maroko in 1990
"
Archive
'' Environment and Urbanization'', 1997 9: 271 {{coord missing, Nigeria Populated places in Lagos State Eti-Osa History of Lagos