By Robert Egbe

Property owners at Water Front Estate, Ibeshe in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State have filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos alleging that their homes were “unlawfully” demolished by the Lagos State Government.

They prayed the court to order the defendants – the state governor, Inspector-General of Police, Lagos State Government, Attorney-General of Lagos State, Lagos State Task Force on Land Grabber and its Chairman, Owolabi Arole – to pay them N50milion as compensation.

The applicants are Alhaji Yinus Adedokun, Mrs Nasiru Funke, Mr Gabriel Oluwadare, Mr Will Atanda, Demola Adesoye, and 44 others, in a suit numbered FHC/CSL/956/2021.

The applicants, through their lawyer, Mr Olusola Salawu, also alleged that on July 8, 2021, 10 of them were “unjustifiably” locked up in a Black Maria for over 12 hours during the demolition.

They claimed in a 25-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Adedokun that they purchased their lands between the years 2009 – 2015 from the Shosanya Ajako Family, a landowner from “time immemorial”.

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They developed, occupied and named the property Water Front Estate “without any hindrance.”

But on July 8, 2021, at about 7am, the Task Force arrived on the estate in about 10 trucks and bulldozers.

“Before one could say Jack Robinson, wthe policemen arrested me and other residents and locked us in the Black Maria for over 12 hours during which they carried out their illegal acts of demolition of our houses”

“The respondents did not serve us any notices before they carried out the illegal act of demolition of our houses. They did not show or serve us any court order before the demolition of our properties worth several billions of naira’’, Adedokun averred.

No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.