By Adegunle Olugbamila
Lagos lawyer Ebiwonjumi Obatayo is seeking the intervention of the Inspector- General of Police (IGP) in a land-grabbing allegation against his client, Otunba Kamorudeen Lamina.
Lamina, a real estate developer in Ikorodu, Lagos was alleged to have grabbed land at Oke-Eletu in Ijede area of Ikorodu using the police and thugs.
But Obatayo described the allegations said to have been levelled against Lamina by one Nofiu Abiodun Kasumu and his lawyer Dapo Abiodun, as baseless and unfounded.
He absolved his client who, according to him, is the CEO of Omolamina Global Ventures, of allegations of mobilising the police and thugs to intimidate Kasumu’s men on the disputed parcel of land, which according to him, is located in Ginti Village and not Oke-Eletu as claimed by Kasumu.
The July 14, 2020 petition was addressed to the Inspector- General of Police (IGP), Force Headquarters Abuja.
The Nation had earlier reported a petition written by Kasumu’s lawyer, accusing Lamina of mobilising some military, police officers and thugs to a parcel of land located at Oke-Eletu community.
The said petition was addressed to the Brigade Commander 9 Mechanised Brigade; Ikeja Military Cantonment of Nigerian Army as well as the Assistant Inspector-General of Police (Zone 2) Onikan, Lagos.
The June 4 petition alleged that Lamina on Wednesday June 3, 2020 mobilised officers of OP MESA from 174 Battalion Command, Odongunyan, in Ikorodu, invaded Kasumu’s family land in Oke-Eletu along Ijede Road, harassed and beat up some workers on site.
In his reaction, however, Obatayo claimed that both Kasumu and his lawyer hoodwinked the media by erroneously citing the parcel of land under dispute in Oke-Eletu.
Obatayo said the land in question is not in Oke-Eletu but in Ginti, a neigbouring community where Kasumnu does not have a stake whatsoever. He said despite Ginti sharing ancestral boundary with Oke-Eletu, neither his client nor the leaders of Ginti and Oke-Eletu communities have ever been involved in altercation over land matters till date.
Obatayo described his client, popularly known as ’Sir K Oluwo’, as a peaceful and law-abiding citizen who resides in own house built on two plots of land in Ginti community since 2007.
Obatayo said various petitions had been written to Oke-Eletu palace and police station by aggrieved individuals whose lands were illegally appropriated.
Similarly, some community leaders in Oke-Eletu also insisted that the land under dispute belongs to Ginti and not Oke-Eletu.
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Messrs John Oluremilekun Ajalogun, Adeniyi Ajayi, and Oludayo Awolate Oshikoya, who are Chairman Oke-Eletu Development Committee; Baale-elect of Oke-Eletu , as well as the Head of Sogba Ruling House Oke-Eletu respectively, claimed that their kinsman misled the public by saying the land in question is located within Oke-Eletu community.
“His (Kasumu) claim that Alhaji Lamina is disturbing Oke-Eletu is false, baseless and unfounded,” said Mr Ajalogun.
“Ginti is a different community from Oke-Eletu community. I want the whole world to know that Oke-Eletu does not have a plot of land on Ginti land’’.
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