By Robert Egbe
The heads and principal members of Omomunmi Oja Chieftaincy family of Oko Egan Alapa Village in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos state have accused the Registered Trustees of Ajah Community Development Association (ACDA) of illegally sacking their community.
They said the ACDA, supervised by the Lagos State Taskforce on Land Grabbers (LSTFLG), Lagos State Ministry of Town Planning, armed police and thugs on June 11, 2020, chased residents of the community and levelled tens of buildings with bulldozers.
They accused the ACDA of engaging in a land grab.
But the Lagos State Government and the ACDA denied the claims, adding that it was the victims of the exercise that were the suspected land grabbers.
The family’s leader, Baale Wasiu Shitta, lamented that their ancestral shrines, as well as their farms were also destroyed, despite the land being the subject of litigation in suit No EPD/7325/LMW/2018 pending before Justice Ganiyu Safari of the Lagos High Court, Epe division.
The suit is between Chief Wasiu Shitta & Another Vs Registered Trustees of Ajah Community Development Association & Governor of Lagos State & Attorney General.
According to Shitta, his family is the owner of approximately 58 acres of land with plan number LA/237/2007/107 A & B drawn by a surveyor, W. Adeniyi.
“We have been living in our inherited land that was established by our forefathers since we were born. Some years ago, some people from the Ajah Community Development Association came and said the government had allocated our community to them,” Shitta said.
He said resolution of the matter had been dragging for years before the family sought redress in court.
“Two weeks ago, we got a call that our matter was coming up on June 18. But on 11th of June, we just saw a team of Taskforce, Ministry of Planning officials, armed policemen and others with cutlasses and machetes. They started demolishing our homes, destroying houses and sending people and children out of the community.
“We have all been displaced right now, from our community. The community people cannot be found,” Shitta said.
According to him, residents are being prevented from returning to the site by armed persons stationed there.
“The place is empty now, all our houses have been destroyed. We are outside, we don’t have anywhere to stay right now that is why we are calling on the media to help us out,” Shitta added
READ ALSO: Lagos dislodges land grabbers from Lekki land.
But, in a statement, the Lagos State Government said the enforcement exercise was carried out by officials of the LSTFLG to dislodge suspected land grabbers from parcels of land measuring 50.06 hectares at Block E, Plot 2 at Sangotedo, Lekki Peninsula Subregion in Eti-Osa Area.
The ACDA said the suspected land grabbers had forcibly encroached on and seized the parcels of land belonging to the association.
He said they prevented the association from taking possession of the land, following which the association petitioned Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN.
General Secretary, Oladele Ojogbede, thanked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Ministry of Justice and the State Attorney General for helping the association take possession of the land.
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