Funke Akindele mobilises support for evicted special needs children in Lagos

By Folashade Olorunfemi –

Veteran Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, has appealed for support for children with disabilities after sharing a heartbreaking video of children from the Magnificent Therapy Centre following their eviction from their premises in Sabo-Yaba, Lagos.

The therapy centre had raised an alarm via Instagram on Saturday, sharing videos showing properties scattered outside the building while the special needs children were locked out and forced to seek refuge in a nearby uncompleted building. The videos quickly circulated online, attracting public sympathy.

Reacting to the incident, Funke shared an interview session with one of the facilitators on Tuesday, saying she had just learnt about the development and had supported the facility in her own little way. She also appealed to Nigerians to support the vulnerable children through donations and other assistance.

In the video shared on Instagram, the facility manager, Mrs Oluwatoyin Jayesimi, said they were evicted around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday and had to move temporarily to an uncompleted building where they were permitted to stay for about two weeks. She added that despite renovating the former building and drilling a borehole for the owner, the eviction still went ahead.

Jayesimi also expressed concern about the safety and welfare of the children, whom she described as homeless and abandoned, citing poor living conditions and bad weather at the temporary shelter.

Reacting to the claims, the General Manager of the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA), Mrs Adenike Oyetunde-Lawal, said the agency was aware of the situation and described some of the claims as a “misrepresentation of facts”. She noted that the property owners had long indicated plans to repossess the property.

Oyetunde-Lawal said a co-facilitator of the centre, Mr Bidemi Jayesimi, had written to the agency in 2024 requesting N600 million to acquire a property for the children, but the request was declined due to funding constraints. She also stated that the agency was only informed about the court-backed eviction on May 14, 2026, and could not stop court officials from carrying out the process.

She added that the agency advised that some of the children be returned to their families while officers were placed on standby to ensure their safety. The therapy centre later thanked Funke Akindele and members of the public for their support, donations, and prayers, which it described as vital during the crisis.