The Baale of Oko Olomi. Ibeju-Lekki Local Government of Lagos State, Chief Lateef Eleku, has refuted the claim that members of his community, who were arrested and detained by men of the Lagos State Task Force, were land grabbers.
On the contrary, they are bona fide land owners, he said.
Speaking at a briefing, he alleged that 22 persons were arrested on the orders of Tolls System Company Limited.
They include, Kazeem Tajudeen, Ganiu Wasiu Surajudeen Rasak, Ismaila Adeniyi, AbdulRasak Tajudeen, among others.
“We want to inform the public that all the 22 persons arrested are not land grabbers but landowners and members of various landowning families in Oko Olomi village,” he said.
He alleged that Toll System engaged the services of land grabbers to invade and demolish their houses.
Eleku alleged that Toll System claimed that their allocation was 1,561.20 hectares and demolished over 1,000 houses in 2016 in the community, sparing their shrines and burial sites.
“Lagos Sate government should help us. We want to go back to our village. As of last Thursday, they demolished 10 houses and destroyed three cars. They brought police to arrest 22 people who are members of our extended families,” he said.
The community lawyer, Mr Kunle Fakayejo,noted that there are documents to prove that the community owns the land before the company came to encroach on it.
“Every document at our disposal confirmed that Oko Olomi is the customary owner of the land before Toll System came to encroach it,” he said.
However, the Chief Legal Officer to Toll Systems, Mr Ugochukwu Ndubusi, said the community did not have the title to the land.
“The Lagos State Task Force came to clear that place last Thursday. I have the Certificate of Occupancy; they do not have the Title to the land,” he said.