A lagos state delegation led by the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Wale Ahmed, has visited the Etegbin community in Oto-Awori Local Council Development Area of Lagos State to assess an alleged invasion by hoodlums.
State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Cornelius Ojelabi, who was part of the delegation, said the state’s intervention was to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
According to Ojelabi, both parties would be invited to a roundtable to resolve the matter amicably. He also appealed to the residents not to take laws into their own hands.
The Etegbin community had cried to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu following the invasion of the riverine community by suspected hoodlums who claimed to be acting on a court order to repossess the land.
Residents said the hoodlums damaged several buildings and burnt tyres at different locations, forcing them to remain indoors. At the community’s main jetty, about six flying boats were destroyed and lifejackets burnt.
A local, Gbadebo Oluwadamilare, said the hoodlums came in through Oke-Era, chanting songs that the land owners had come to take back their land.
“They manhandled our fathers and mothers, even students were prevented from going to school. The hoodlums came with Dane guns and axes, destroying houses, shops and forcing many hotels to close down,” he said.
A lecturer at the Lagos State University (LASU) and an indigene of Etegbin, Olawole Olaniyi, described the situation as disheartening.
A representative of the land owners, Ganiyu Asamu, said there was a court order empowering them to repossess the land.
“There is no crisis, no problem at all in Etegbin. We are not disturbing anybody for now. The land owners will soon invite the landlords and residents to a peaceful meeting and they will tell them what to do,” he said
Asamu added that the barricades erected by the hoodlums were to check the influx of criminals into the community.