It was an early morning invasion, which caught many residents unawares. They woke up to see some houses in their neighbourhood being demolished. The action, they were told, was in execution of a Supreme Court verdict, which gave the land to the Ojora Royal House. But, the way the houses were demolished, they said, seemed to be an ambush of sorts. They are afraid that their homes may be next, reports SEYI ODEWALE.
Many residents of Orile-Iganmu in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State are living in fear. The fear of losing their houses.What happened in the neighbourhood last Friday has heightened their fear. That day, the police, in a convoy of over 10 vehicles, with a court Sheriff and bailiffs, stormed the area to execute a warrant of possession known in legal parlance as Form O.
The early morning invasion caused panic among residents of Aloko, Savage, Oso-Ofin, Oso-Olodi, Tokosi, Coker, Ajagbe, Laniyonu, Tapa, Bankole and Imoru streets, and the adjoining areas.
The action was a fallout of a Supreme Court verdict, affirming the judgment of the Lagos High Court and the Court of Appeal in a case involving Chief Israel Esurombi-Aro and others and Chief Bello Davies and 12 others. The judgments were in favour of Chief Esurombi-Aro and others, including the Ojora of Lagos, representing the Ojora family.
Accompanied by three excavators, the police and the court officials made for 2C, Savage Lane, Orile-Iganmu and pulled down the house of Lt. Col. Eyitayo Akintola Akinbami (rtd). With despatch, they moved to the house at 25, Bale Street belonging to the late Nurudeen Omobalufon, where residents of the two-storey building were given about two hours to pick their belongings and vacate the building before it was demolished.
Although the residents were not molested by the security personnel and those that came with them, the panic created by the heavy presence of security officers, led by Dickson Onyeka, a Superintendent of Police and the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Orile-Iganmu Police Station, was obvious. Residents scurried from one point to the other, ferrying their belongings out of the building to be destroyed.
With no resistance from any quarter, the building at 11:30am came under the heavy thud of the earth-mowers and its frontage and the adjoining boys’ quarters gave way. Perhaps the fear of being rough-handled by security personnel and the possibility of losing their belongings to the demolition made quietened most of them. They wore long faces. Those who could not keep their emotions broke down in tears.
“Where do I go from here?” was the question on the lips of most of them.
But a lawyer, who pleaded not to be named, said the demolished houses belonged to the recalcitrant ones among those affected by the judgment.
He said they were asked, several times, to revalidate their ownership of the land, but they refused almost four years after the original owners had taken possession of the land.
“The overlords of the land, as ruled by the Supreme Court’s pronouncement are Chiefs Esurombi-Aro and Chief Abdul-Fatai Aromire, the Ojora of Lagos and others. This is upholding the judgments of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. But these people refused to comply with what the family decided, which was revalidating their titles on the land with the payment of a token. So, they are the architects of their own misfortune,” he said.
About 500 houses are likely to face the same fate unless their owners comply and revalidate their titles on the land.
In a letter to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Abubakar, received on August 1, this year, by the IG’s office, Oluseyi Okunuyi, another counsel to Ojora family, applied for intensive police protection to execute Form O.
Concluding the letter, Okunuyi listed Col. Akinbami – 2C, Savage Lane; Taiwo Tokosi – 10, Lasisi Giwa Street; Nurudeen Omobalufon – 25C, Bale Street and Ganiyu Animashaun – 26, Coker Road as “the leading leaders of those who have continued to violate lawful order of the courts.”
Samuel Olujimi Ololade Owojuyigbe, a consultant and estate manager to the Ojora family and others, also said the people were the architects of their misfortune by refusing to obey the court order on the land. He traced the history of the dispute to the early 1970s when his clients dragged the other party to court to repossess their land.
He said: “The land in question, ab initio, belonged to the Ojora family and others. The Ojora put some people in-charge of the land as he could not always come around to oversee the land. Those people subsequently sold all the land to various people, including those who are the present landlords.
“Those people, who were tenants then, appointed for themselves one Gafaru Bello, as Baale, traditional head of the community. But the then Ojora rose against it and wrote to then local council to complain that the said Gafaru Bello could not be a Baale on Ojora’s land and that he, Ojora, was the overlord of the land. So, based on that the then local council refused to recognise Bello. The tenants later came to Ojora’s palace, wrote a letter and apologised for their insubordination to their overlord.
“Thereafter, when Orile-Badagry Expressway was being constructed in the 1970s, the tenants began to sell the land. They did it without the consent of the Ojora royal family. So, the Ojora royal house went to court. There was also a time they did a deed of transfer, claiming that all the interests on the land had been transferred to a particular company owned by them.
“The case got to court in Suit LD/562/72, and judgment was given on December 28, 2000, by the then Justice of the court, in favour of the Ojora family, and the land was given to them. The tenants then lost their customary rights to the land and were asked to vacate and give possession to the owners.
“The tenants proceeded to the Court of Appeal in Suit CA/L/86/2001 and on November 8, 2004 they lost. The Appeal Court upheld the lower court’s judgment. Thereafter, they went to the Supreme Court to appeal in Suit SC/54/2005 and judgment was again given in favour of the respondents -Ojora family and others – on April 3, 2009. On July 31 of the same year, the Lagos High Court through its Sheriff and the police came to take possession of the land and gave it to Ojora Royal family.
“And since then this family has been pasting posters, writing letters and advertising in the dailies that all the tenants should come and revalidate their titles by paying a token that is less than N1 million. For a plot of land, they were asked to pay N750,000 while half a plot went for N350,000. Most of them refused to do this. Later, they (about 480) went to court to challenge the Supreme Court’s judgment. Their lawyer, Vincent Nwana, later withdrew the case from the apex court after seeing the futility of such exercise and the case was struck out,” Owojuyigbe said.
What happened last Friday, Owojuyigbe said, was the execution of Form O on the land, which is the certificate issued to the Ojora family granting them the land. He added that the family also got a demolition order from the High Court about two years ago.
“Since then, the family has been asking them to comply by making some payments, but they refused,” he said.
Reacting to Col. Akinbami’s claim that the land was acquired by the state government, Owojuyigbe said: “No, the land was not acquired at anytime by the government. If the land was acquired by the government, of course, government is still alive. The government could have come to the High Court to contend the judgment. The family is not aware of any acquisition and, if indeed there was, we would have known this for the whole duration of the case. Don’t forget, the case lasted about 40 years.”
When asked about the fate of other buildings and if they had all complied, he said: “They have not really complied, those whose property were destroyed today are the judgment debtors – they were the ones that lost at the courts. We are appealing to those who have not complied that we would not hesitate to demolish their buildings. For instance, those who have made some payments would be left alone, but we want them to comply.”
Shortly after the verdict of the apex court, Col Akinbami and 383 others, in 2010, sued the Ojora and six others in Suit LD/1394/2010 to stop them from taking possession of their land, but Justice Oyekan-Abdullahi, directed the parties to seek alternative means by reconciling. However, efforts at reconciling them, according to a letter by Nwana to the judge, dated December 14, 2010, were futile as a result of a publication in one of the dailies.
“This meeting could not take place because a few days to the meeting, a publication appeared in The Punch newspaper of Tuesday, November 30, 2010, which completely undermined the efforts and spirit behind the reconciliation,” he wrote.
Akinbami, in a telephone chat at the weekend, branded those who demolished his building as lawless. To him, they ought to know that there is a pending suit in court, which has not been disposed.
“Their action is an act of lawlessness. They are lawless people. In fact, it was an ambush on my part. They did not notify us that they were coming. They just came with the heavy presence of the police to perpetrate their lawlessness. I am talking to my lawyer about it,” he said.
Nwana said he was not aware of the demolition as he was out of town.
“I am not aware of that. It’s news to me. In fact, as I’m talking with you I am out of Lagos to attend the funeral of a sister of mine. So, I cannot say much for now,” he said.
Prior to last Friday’s action, Nwana sent Save-Our-Soul message, to Governor Babatunde Fashola asking him to intervene in the matter. One of them was dated February 8, 2010 and received on February 10.
Titled: Save Our Souls from the siege of Ojora family vide Suit SC/54/2005, he wrote: “This is why we are writing you this letter to further solicit your assistance towards the maintenance of law and order in the Orile-Iganmu area. Our fear is that if the conduct and activities of the leadership of the Ojora family are not restrained by the executive fiat, they may resort to unnecessary violence and unbridled lawlessness.”
On June 4, of the same year, he wrote a reminder and copied the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command; the state Attorney-General/Commissioner for Justice; Commissioner for Land and Survey; his counterpart in Information; the Oba of Lagos and Oba Fatai Aromire, the Ojora of Ijora.
On December 14, of the same year, Nwana wrote again to the governor to show appreciation “for the concern and interest you have so far shown in this matter. By setting up a committee to review the interests of the feuding parties as well as by the numerous publications/pronouncements of your government on the issue. You have demonstrated an uncommon commitment and sensitivity towards the plight of the downtrodden. For these, we are, indeed, very grateful.”
These correspondences, however, could not stop the bulldozers last Friday from pulling down at least two houses.
DPO Onyeka, under whose watch the exercise was carried out, said his men and the court officials were only carrying out a lawful order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
“It is a normal exercise. If a court of competent jurisdiction has given a judgment, it should be carried out without fear or favour. We are here to maintain law and order and to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order as directed,” he said.
He continued: “I feel he who owns the land, owns everything on the land. And if the judgment has been given by a court of competent jurisdiction, especially if it has gone to the Supreme Court, the judgment should be carried out without fear or favour. We have no challenge from anyone whatsoever. Everywhere is calm, the bailiffs, who are supposed to carry out the order, are doing their job without any molestation. No arrests were made.”
Meanwhile, two double-barrel guns were allegedly found in Akinbami’s house when it was demolished. They were subsequently seized by the police.
Onyeka said: “I have asked my men to take possession of the guns until the licences are produced. I have asked the Col. to get us the licence to the guns, if we see that their licences are genuine, we will release the arms to him. But, if they are not, he will be charged accordingly.”
About 900 other residents of the area covered by the judgment are worried that what befell their neighbours may be visited on them as the bulldozers are still on the ground, but Owojuyigbe said the judgment debtors were the ones whose houses were pulled down.
“We are mindful of this and that is why we are appealing to those affected to come and perfect their titles. Mind you, those who have shown the willingness to comply would have their houses spared. And we are being elastic about the payment. We take as low as N50,000 as instalments per month,” he said.
About N10 million have so far been paid by those who complied in March, last year when payments started before it was stopped. In a letter Nwana wrote to the Ojora on June 20, 2011, he said in paragraph 12: “As it stands today, our clients have paid well over N10 million into your coffers in bank drafts drawn in favour of your solicitors, Messrs S.O Owojuyigbe & Co. since this payment was commenced only this March. All of our clients are eager and willing to continue with this payment exercise and probably would have exceeded N20 million by now if not for the sinister dimension now introduced by your purported agents.”
