Villagers in 14 neigbouring communities in Ogun and Lagos states have fled their villages, because armed land grabbers, otherwise known as Ajagungbale, have taken over. They say their lives are not safe and are seeking government intervention, SEYI ODEWALE reports.
THEY looked harassed and frustrated as they converged on the open space at the frontage of the palace of Baale Orija Okegbegun in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, that Monday morning. They are young and old; male and female; able bodied and frail looking people with a simple plea to the government: “Save our souls”. Displaying their various degrees of injuries in a peaceful protest at the vast arena, it was obvious that they were angry at what had befallen them.
Those with gunshot wounds on their arms held out their hands for all to see as they clutched placards with various inscriptions detailing their plights. They are indigenes of 14 villages of Ikorodu and Shagamu towns of Lagos and Ogun States, whose plea to the government is to deliver them and their land from the hands of those they termed land grabbers, otherwise known as Ajagungbale in Yoruba land.
The villagers, in order to show their seriousness, organised themselves into a group called Association of Communities Against Terrorism in Lagos and Ogun States (ACATLO). In an address by their secretary, Prince Babatunde Oladeinde, the people of Eyin Ogbe; Adeekun Lambo Lasunwon; Teele Ewujebe; Ilu Oloye; Ewumi; Oke Arobi-Ilisa Oba Lire; Aro Ofolu; Salagberu; Tile-tile; Igbosoro Oke-Ibu; Igbosoro Oloride; Oresesu in Ogun State, Jaajo, Oke –Agbo villages in Lagos State said they have become refugees in their fatherland as alleged land grabbers have disposed them of their home stead and sent them packing.
“This ugly incident started some years back when we just woke up and found out that the so-called land grabbers and their hoodlums have attacked Eyin-Ogbe villages and spread to other communities, namely: Adeekun Lambo Lasunwon; Teele Ewujebe; Ilu Oloye; Ewumi; Oke Arobi-Ilisa Oba Lire; Aro Ofolu; Salagberu; Tile-tile; Igbosoro Oke-Ibu; Igbosoro Oloride;, Oresesu (Ogun State), Jaajo and Oke-Agbo, shooting, killing, maiming, raping, looting among others,” Oladeinde said.
He continued: “We now live in fear day and night. Most of the residents of these communities have fled their homes for over two years for fear of being killed. For example, the indigenes of Oke-Agbo village have fled their homes up to the point that when one of their prominent sons died, the notorious hit man of the Ajagungbale, popularly called Soro, made it tough for the relatives of the deceased to bury their son. That is the situation we find ourselves today.”
He named the land grabbers leaders as Mutairu Owoeye; Kamoru Lamina (a.k.a Sir K); Hakeem Alabi (a.k.a Soro); Eleda; Doyin; Elesuda; Nurudeen Banjo and Dauda among others, saying several petitions have been written to the police and other law enforcement agents to report the activities of these people, but there seemed to be no solution to their plight.
What, according to them, came close to solving their trouble was the last month’s visit of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP’s) monitoring group from Abuja, whose mission was fact finding of some sorts. “On July 12, the I.G. monitoring team of police officers visited us from Abuja as a fact finding investigating team and we jointly visited some of the villages on that day,” Oladeinde said.
He added: “Most shocking was that immediately the police officers departed from Ilu Oloye village and other areas visited, the hoodlums returned to wreck more havoc and spread to other communities in the area. They became more daring and more confident to continue their nefarious activities.”
But some of those fingered as land grabbers have denied the allegation, saying that the land in question were genuinely bought by them. One of them is Kamoru Lamina, who said the allegations levied against him were frivolous. “All their allegations are not mine. I have seen the address delivered at their press conference. They don’t know what they are talking about. I have properties in only three villages out of the lot they mentioned and the land was bought by my company,” Lamina said.
The said land, according to Lamina, also known as Sir K, was bought in 2011. “We bought the land in 2011 and we got the necessary documents that show us as the bona fide owner of the land. At least, four persons from each family signed the documents that perfected the transaction. Almost 12 of them signed the document, representing each family,” he said.
What could have been responsible for the plight of the villagers, according to Lamina, was perhaps the village head, whom he said, had issues with his subjects. “My thinking is that the Baale has issues with the family itself, but that is not my business,” he said.
He continued: “I reliably gathered that the Baale of that community has issues with his family. His family, I understand, is fighting him for bringing thugs to the village to cause trouble. When his family wrote a petition to the IGP in Abuja, the IG sent his men down, but unfortunately the Baale’s thugs attacked the police team. A member of the team, Superintendent Oyagie, got his vehicle destroyed. The police team returned to Abuja to complain to their DIG and the DIG sent another team from the Federal SARS (Special Anti-Robbery Squad), Adeniji Adele, Lagos. Superintendent of Police, Niyi handled the case. When that team got to the village, they were equally attacked. Luckily, the team was able to arrest six of the villagers and they found on them guns.”
When told that it was alleged that it was his people that attacked the police, Lamina said: “No, there is nothing like that. You can go to the Federal SARS and find out about those arrested with guns on them. That case is still pending. The truth of the matter is that no one, no matter how powerful he is, can just come and take someone else’s land like that. I have all the documents given to me when I bought the land. I gave your colleagues from other media copies, who attended my press conference, copies.”
Concerning Eyin-Ogbe village, Lamina said he has no interest there, noting that his interest is in Igbosoro village where he has two buildings. “Another community where I have property is Igbosoro where I have two houses. Every other place they alleged that I have property is a bunch of lies,” he said.
The villagers, however, faulted him. According to them, Lamina is fond of telling lies. They claimed everything they said about him is true. “You know he has connections everywhere, even among the police. So, he does all he likes and nobody dares challenge him. He may not have buildings in other areas, but he has taken our land, which was not given to him by anybody,” said Baale of Ilu Oloye, Chief Ganiyu Olawale.
According to him, his community was sacked by armed men working for Lamina. “Ilu Olye was sacked by land grabbers popularly known as Ajagungbale. They entered my community, sacked everywhere and chased everybody out. They were fully armed; carrying dangerous weapons such as cutlasses, axes, guns of various sizes, cudgels and charms. They sent everyone packing, maiming and inflicting various degrees of injuries on my people,” he said.
He continued: “They operate like the notorious Boko Haram terrorists in the northeast of the country. They will suddenly unleash terror on their helpless victims, kill some, maim some and chase some away. They are bandits on rampage. They sacked my community on July 3, this year. They had done similarly in other communities. There are various groups of these bandits headed by men such as Kamoru Lamina, Mutairu Owoeye, Akeem Alabi and others,” Olawale said.
The village head said no reason was given for the alleged invasion of his community. “They also did not show any document that the land belonged to them. This is a land we have lived on for about four hundred years. Our forefathers owned the land and gave it to us and we have been living in peace since. I am the eight Baale of that community,” he said.
Leaders of other affected communities spoke in the same vein. One of them, Chief Rafiu Shitta from Igbosere-Oloride said: “For the past two years land grabbers have been fighting us on our land. It became a court case which we won and we showed them (the land grabbers), but they told us to keep off the land otherwise, they would kill us. People like Lamina (Sir K) and his cohorts are the ones troubling us.” Corroborating him, Adekunle Ajasa of Igbosoro community said: “We have been sent packing since August last year. None of our people can go to the community and these people are selling our land at will.”
Ajasa traced the genesis of the crisis to when some youths came and expressed their interest in joining the youth body of the community. “The community youth has five branches and one person from each branch brought two members that made the youth wing. And these young men approached us, we did not say no to them, but we told them that they must come through their families, which will be a sort of endorsement by their families. They, however, refused to follow our advice and we kept quiet,” he said.
He continued: “But suddenly, one afternoon, we saw one of them, who said to us that they were not bothered by what we asked them to do. According to him, he and his members would have nothing to do with us again. Four days later, he and his men trespassed into our land. They were carrying guns. They warned that if we come to our land, they will implicate us by killing someone and make it look as if we killed that person. We have it on good authority that they work for Sir K, because he sent some people thereafter. I remember Sir K said the bastard within the family has not grown up. And when he is fully grown up, we will know. Since then we have been in this mess. Nobody can go back to that community as I speak to you.”
Another leader from one of the 14 communities, Chief Olawale Shobowale, Baale of Salagberu; a community between Oke-Ogbodo and Eyin-Ogbe in Ogun State, said a family within the community has, for the past four years, engaged the services of land grabbers led by Owoeye and Soro, who have chased them out of their land.
“We made enquiries because we did not want to take the law into our hands by being violent like them. We got in touch with that family lawyer, Giwa Amu. We showed him all out documents in laying claims to the land. This man saw our documents and intervened, asking them not to disturb us again. After this, they came back to disturb us, unleashing terror on us. They came in April this year and we have been sent away from our land,” he said.
He spoke of how police intervention yielded no positive result. “Immediately the police returned to Abuja, Soro and his men returned to chase us out. He said unless we see his boss, Owoeye, before he could allow us to enter our land. As I am speaking to you these people are on our land and we cannot go back there. We want the Federal Government to help us. This was how the dreaded Boko Haram started,” he said.
When The Nation contacted Owoeye on phone, he said he was away to Abuja and would get in touch when he returned. Efforts to reach him after his return were, however, futile.
The communities’ lawyer, Rashid Oluwatoyin Sadiq said, all hopes are not lost as there are legal options available for the 14 communities to seek redress. “We are not going to lie low on this we are going back to court. But why my clients are angry is because virtually all of them are in one exile or the other, living like refugees in their own land. A traditional ruler cannot enter his palace, that is why they are crying and I know the government would do something about it,” he said.
He said he would lead them to court to seek redress, especially communities that have got courts judgment against the intruders. “I know some communities have got judgments against them, which they could not enforce. This is because there was this claim that they had appealed. They have refused to understand that a notice of Appeal does not constitute a stay of execution order. They must go further to get a stay of execution from the court. Where there is no such thing, a mere appeal does not empower them to take the laws into their hands. I have moved round the villages, the highest I have seen is a notice of Appeal,” he said.
