Artists Forcefully Ejected From National Theatre ….. Shop Owners Rue Losses Running Into Millions Of Naira

Management of the National Theatre  Iganmu ,Saturday  demolished  the Artists Village located within the National Arts Theatre wcomplex.The demolition was carried out based on directives from the Federal Ministry  of Information and  Culture and was supevised by the General Manager of the National Arts Theatre, Mr Kabiru.

However shop owners in the Artists  Village  frowned at the manner at which the demolition was carried out.  According to Segun Adefila, founder and lead dancer of Crown Troupe of Africa, Shop owners and artists in the complex were not given enough time to leave  their shops and the losses suffered were huge.

“Artistes village at the moment been destroyed by Mr Kabiru the GM of national theatre with properties and arts work worth millions gone just like that?hmmmmmm change indeed has really come”

He further added that the demolition denied idle youth who the haven to express their  artisitic talents “Many young artists who have found a creative outlet for their youthful energy shall be violently uprooted from this space. Their properties destroyed, savings stolen and all of them rendered idle. These artists shall soon begin to envy their contemporaries, who have taken to crime by wrecking havoc on a sleeping society. Shame, a big shame”

According to other eyewitnesses, the demolitionexercise  nearly turned into a violent confrontation  between the officers of the Nigeria Police and shop owners, with the police resorting to shooting to the air to disperse the angry mob.