One month after land grabbers invaded and laid siege on a Lagos Group at Ajasa-Command Space of the State, the 20,000 robust residents have despatched a powerful ‘Save Our Souls’ petition to the State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, asking him to avoid wasting them from each day harassment and bullying by the land grabbers.
On February 16, 2024, the residents of Ifelagba and Aniya Group Improvement Areas woke as much as the invasion of infamous land grabbers from Ogun State with over 200 thugs, to invade the neighborhood on the pretext of executing the judgement of a Lagos Excessive Court docket over a land tussle between Oba Subaru Odualabe, and Kehinde Ologunebi households over an expanse of land measuring 11.370 hectares and delineated in survey plan no: AGB 247A and mendacity at Igbo Esinsin. Owoeye is well-known and feared in Ogun State, significantly at Atan-Ota, the place he has his base.
The litigation began with swimsuit no ID/937/2006 earlier than Justice Atinuke Ipaye of the Ikeja Judicial Division who delivered her judgement on September 29, 2011 in favour of the Ologunebi household. The matter thereafter, proceeded to the Court docket of Attraction, Lagos in 2012 earlier than Justices Amina Augie, Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo, and Tijjani Abubakar. In a unanimous determination, and within the lead judgement learn by Justice Obaseki-Adejumo, the appellate court docket affirmed the choice of the decrease court docket. Not happy with the Court docket of Attraction determination, Oba Odualabe proceeded to the Supreme Court docket the place Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun in December 2022 struck the case out, attributable to withdrawal and incompetence.
In the meantime on December 8, 2023, Oba Odualabe filed one other utility looking for go away to relist the enchantment earlier than the Supreme Court docket. However, previous to this, the Plaintiff had filed an ex-parte utility earlier than Justice Ipaye looking for to take possession of the land in query. In granting the applying, Justice Ipaye stated: “It’s trite that each court docket of legislation has the inherent and bounden responsibility, to make sure that a litigant enjoys the juicy fruit of success within the authorized contest. This court docket having additionally extracted an enterprise from the judgement creditor, to the impact that execution of the judgement shall not be used as an event to unleash violence and mayhem on the holders of third-party pursuits created over the topic property in the middle of litigation”. Primarily based on this extraction of enterprise signed by Alhaji Suraju Ologunebi, Justice Ipaye granted the applying for possession on November 15, 2023. Alhaji Suraju Ologunebi swore to an oath to not execute judgement with violence on December 12, 2024. Nevertheless, regardless of the pendency of the enchantment earlier than the Supreme Court docket, it additionally granted a consequential order granting possession to the judgement creditor to take over the land on December 15, 2023. The decrease court docket additional granted the order of execution on January 24, 2024.
In the meantime, the residents grew to become conscious of the litigation solely in 2015, simply after judgement was delivered on the Court docket of Attraction and instantly instructed their Lawyer, Mr Jiti Ogunye to determine contact with Mr Idowu Kokumo, the Ologunebi household Lawyer. Correspondences had been exchanged between the 2 Attorneys between 2015 and 2020, to the impact that the residents might be keen to barter with the judgement creditor, with out prejudice to the end result of the matter earlier than the Apex Court docket.
It was due to this fact, baffled communities that woke as much as see over 200 thugs led by Chief Owoeye that invaded their communities, opposite to the ban on actions of land grabbers by Lagos State Authorities. They accompanied court docket bailiffs who marked the possessed properties. There have been additionally 40 policemen and 20 troopers, with a Navy Police decide up van. The Military automobile was later traced to the Nigerian Military Canine Heart, Ipaja, the place it was parked.
Since then, the Owoeye thugs have remained within the communities, destroying properties, locking folks’s houses, and extorting residents. They lock gates, stopping residents from both going out or coming in. The residents, pushed to the wall, are getting increasingly restive by the day. It obtained to a head that Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fayoade Adegoke Mustapha on Tuesday March 12, 2024 held a gathering at his workplace with all of the events concerned within the case. In attendance on the assembly had been Alhaji Suraju Ologunebi, the judgement creditor, representatives of the Odualabe Royal household, and Elders of the Ifelagba CDA. The Police boss admonished all events, to forestall a breakdown of legislation and order inside the neighborhood. He informed Alhaji Ologunebi to respect the enterprise he made in court docket and that he mustn’t anticipate the residents to barter with him below duress, whereas additionally admonishing the residents to shortly facilitate negotiations with the judgement creditor.
Mr Ogunye has written to Mr Kokumo that the residents are prepared to barter, however that such negotiations might solely be finished in an environment of peace, and never below duress and chaos that has been unleashed on his shoppers.
In his letter to the Governor, Ogunye urged Governor Sanwo-Olu to return to the rescue of residents as legislation abiding residents of Lagos State. “That all the Group has been thrown right into a state of everlasting pandemonium, and the landlords and residents are left on the mercy of the invaders, with no intervention of a governmental authority to arrest the breach of the peace and restore breakdown of legislation and order. Your Excellency, these are law-abiding residents of Nigeria, and residents of Lagos State are each day being subjected to a horrendous maltreatment by their land-grabbing traducers. Our shoppers purchased their respective landed property and developed identical legally and legitimately, with none information of any encumbrances or curiosity of any antagonistic claimants. Within the acquisition of their respective landed property and improvement of identical, our shoppers paid duties, charges and taxes to the Lagos State Authorities, for stamping of their title paperwork, for acquiring their certificates of occupancies, for bodily planning and constructing developments permits, and are additionally paying tenement charges and floor rents, thereby making their modest contributions to the revenues era of Lagos State. It’s our thought-about submission that, within the circumstances, they deserve due safety of the legislation when their constitutional rights to personal a property with out forcible acquisition, is being flagrantly violated”, he said.