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Tag: Land grabbers

  • Activists complain about land grabbers

    Activists complain about land grabbers

    A human rights group, the Human Rights Action Watch has appealed to President Bola Tinubu, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun and other relevant security agencies to institute an investigation into the activities of alleged land grabbers operating in the Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos.

    The group’s Executive Director, Comrade Tunji Balogun who made the appeal at a press conference in Lagos recently accused Saheed Mosadoluwa Urakat, more popularly known as Ibile, of illegally demolishing properties belonging to Mrs Esther Otsabomie and encroachment on Mr Mike Utomi’s large expanse of land at Bolorunpelu Onigbedu Village, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos.

    Read Also: Tinubu, grand master of progressive politics, says Speaker Abbas

    Comrade Balogun said the unlawful acts were perpetrated last week Sunday using thugs and police officers attached to the IGP Monitoring Unit. The human rights activist described Ibile as a notorious land grabber along the Lekki/Epe axis who is working in concert with a prominent property owner in the area (name withheld).

    In a statement read out at the event, Comrade Balogun accused Ibile and those conniving with him  of several acts of criminality. The statement reads in part: “Our appeal is predicated on the fact that Saheed Ibile is acting as someone who is above the law, probably because he is well connected with the  

  • Sorrow, tears as land grabbers unleash terror on Ogun communities

    Sorrow, tears as land grabbers unleash terror on Ogun communities

    Palpable fear has taken over two villages in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State following a siege on the communities by hoodlums suspected to be land grabbers. The villagers are crying out to the authorities to stop the reign of terror, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

    Residents of Akoore and Saari villages in the Ado Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun state are currently living in fear after hoodlums suspected to be land grabbers invaded the communities and unleashed terror.

    In the incident which occurred recently, scores of residents were inflicted with machete cuts by the hoodlums who were said to be armed with other weapons including guns.

    It was said that the hoodlums were sponsored by influential persons including a politician, who is claiming a parcel of land in the villages.

    It was also said that the hoodlums stormed the communities about eight months ago and laid siege on the two villages.

    Scores of residents have deserted the communities while many others have been displaced after they were forcibly ejected from their homes.

    Lamenting his plight and that of other villagers, one of the victims of the attack, Ademola Akano, urged law enforcement agents to save residents from the attackers.

    Akano said: “I do not know if we have a government that cares about people living in rural areas in this country.

    “I say so because this is not the first time the land grabbers would attack us here.

    “The hoodlums have been coming here to terrorise us all the time.

    “They came here again a few days ago, dehumanised and attacked people with machetes and guns.

    “As I speak with you, a number of people are in critical conditions in hospitals and many cannot even walk as their legs were fractured during the attack.

    “Look at my leg and you will see that I also have my share of the bitter experience in the hand of the land grabbers who not only manhandled me but also attacked me with a machete.”

    “We are calling on police and other law enforcement agencies to save us from these mindless people who have vowed to stop at nothing in their bid to eject us from our homes, using violence.”

    One of the youth leaders in the communities identified simply as Hakeem said the incidents have been reported to the police many times but nothing was done to protect the residents and prevent the hoodlums from furthering their attacks on people in a bid to snatch their landed property.

    He said: “The land grabbers claimed there was a Supreme Court judgment in their favour, but the litigation at the apex court, on scrutiny, shows that the property is in Akinde village, not our communities. Yet they want to enforce their possession forcibly on our villages and this is not acceptable to us.

    “For the past eight months, we have not had any peace of mind in our homes following constant attacks by hoodlums working for the land grabbers.

    “However, no matter what they do to intimidate us, we will not submit our land or property to them.”

    Other sources in the communities said that many people were killed and their bodies were taken away by the notorious leader of the hoodlums to prevent and frustrate proper investigation of the killings.

    A community leader who did not want his name in print said: “Some people were killed. Still, their bodies were immediately evacuated and taken away by one man called ‘No Case” who is the leader of the hoodlums laying siege to our communities.

    “The land grabbers have been reported to various police formations including the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of Ogun Police Command at Eleweran, Abeokuta, yet, nothing came out of the investigations.

    Read Also: Tinubu working for a better nation, will fix present challenges – Rep. Ogbara

    “Governor Dapo Abiodun should come tour rescue and dislodge these thugs who have made life nightmarish for us for almost one year now.”

    Meanwhile, a statement issued by a community youth leader, Akeem Onatade, corroborated the plight of residents.

    He noted that many villagers have been displaced from their homes and properties by the hoodlums stationed there.

     He explained that the hoodlums stormed the communities without being accompanied by court officials or bailiffs and had been using violence to take possession of buildings and landed property.

    The statement reads in part: “Good morning my fellow youth compatriots, I wish to bring to your notice the havoc some group of people in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area are perpetrating in two communities (Akoore & Saari communities).

    “This group came with thugs, guns, cutlasses and all sorts of ammunition to drive away people of these two communities under the premise that they have a Supreme Court judgment over one community called Akinde village and by extension, our communities are part of that judgment.

    “This group called themselves “Akoniwado Community” This group came to our community, Akoore and Saari, without a bailiff accompanying them. They have been in our community for the past eight months.

    “We as youth members of these two communities are using this medium to help call Governor Dapo Abiodun to order their removal from our community before things get out of hand.”

    The spokesperson of Ogun Stae Police Command, Omolola Odutola, did not respond to an inquiry sent to her mobile phone over the matter by our correspondent at press time.

  • Day of land grabbers in Lagos community

    Day of land grabbers in Lagos community

    Ibasa Ijegun-Egba in Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA) is a community known for peace and tranquillity. It was created out of Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area 20 years ago. The community with seven wards has not witnessed any form of rumpus until October 27, when the peaceful community was invaded by police personnel and land grabbers. The community leaders have appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Inspector-General of Police to come to their aid, CHINAKA OKORO reports

    For 20 years, Bisi and Ajagun have been neighbours in the Ibasa Ijegun-Egba in the Oriade Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

    Bisi builds local boats while Ajagun specialises in fishing nets. They have not noticed any form of disturbance in the riverside community, which has witnessed all-round peace since it became part of Oriade LCDA when it was created in 2003.

    Ibasa is a community known for peace and tranquillity and has seven wards which are Abule-Osun, Agboju, Ibeshe, Ijegun-Egba, Irede, Kirikiri and Kuje.

    Its peaceful mien was, however, shattered on Friday, October 27, when some members of the community alleged that police personnel and land grabbers invaded their land.

    The residents have cried out that their area was allegedly invaded by police personnel from Zone 2 and land grabbers over unverified allegations.

    In a chat with reporters, the residents stated that since the invasion of the town and their markets, peace had eluded the community.

     Narrating his experience, Chief Tajudeen Ibikunle, the Baale of Ibasa Ijegun-Imore Community, said he was sleeping in his house when some hoodlums and police came to arrest him that Friday.

     “They took me to Police Command at Onikan and locked me up.

     “I was released on Saturday with the help of Oba Afeez Oriyomi Shittu, Adeyemi1, Agbojojoye II Olu of Ibasa, Ijegun-Egba land, who came to bail some of us that were in the cell.”

     He added that upon his return, he discovered that “hoodlums had taken over all axes of my community in Ijegun and were disturbing the peace of the land.”

     He said: “Getting back home on Saturday, I discovered that hoodlums had taken over all axis of my community in Ijegun and continued to disturb the peace of the land.

    “They blocked everywhere and were beating and harassing people, even as they claimed to have taken over the community.

    “We appeal to the Lagos State Government to intervene now because I cannot even access my palace because the hoodlums would not allow me to gain access to my palace,” he said.

    Narrating her ordeal in the hands of the police, a resident of Ijegun-Egba, Mrs Omolara Alebiosu said she, with her three children, was arrested, even as she said she could not fathom the reason for her arrest.

    She also said: “About 50 hoodlums, some of whom wore masks, used me and my children as punching bags and forced us into their vehicle.

    “We were taken to Ikeja before someone called them on the phone to take us to Zone 2 Onikan.

    “They locked us up in a cell on Friday while the traditional ruler came on Saturday to bail some of us while others were released the following Monday.

    “When we returned home, we discovered that the land grabbers were everywhere in the community. They harassed us and even told us that the town belongs to them,” she said.

    The Chairman of the Youth of Ibasa Ijegun-Egba Satellite Community Mr Kareem Idowu noted that some individuals had written a petition against the community.

    According to him, the petitioner said youths of the area were involved in bunkering, and malicious damage of their property and are threatening marketers with guns.

    Debunking the claim, Idowu said all were lies, even as he added that he expected the police to do a proper investigation before invading their community for arrests.

    “There was nothing like bunkering in our community because one can’t even go near the pipeline because of the presence of naval personnel.

    “The community was trying to rebuild the Ogun Shrine to give it a befitting status for the imminent festival.

    “Also, no youth wielded any guns, either at the market or in any other part of Ijegun-Egba. We are law-abiding citizens.

    “The police should have done some investigations before invading our community. Now, many people have been arrested and detained.”

    Read Also: Residents appeal to Sanwo-Olu over land grabbers

    The youth leader could not come to terms with the rationale behind police invading their community in the company of those he called land grabbers.

    He said: “Again, we don’t understand why the police should involve the land grabbers on this issue. Many thugs have been tormenting the residents; claiming that they have taken over our property in Ijegun-Egba.

    “We are law-abiding citizens and have a paramount ruler installed by the Lagos State Government.

    “Currently, nobody can go to the market or anywhere else. The unfortunate situation has affected the economic situation of the area’s people.

    “We appeal to the Lagos State Government to intervene and restore normalcy to our communities as we now live in fear.”

    Another resident of the Ibasa Ijegun-Egba, Bukky Ishola, who is the daughter of the Iyaloja-General of Ijegun-Egba Market, said the market was also invaded by the hoodlums who took advantage of the unpleasant situation to steal, harass and beat up many people at the market.

     Ishola urged the federal and Lagos State governments to intervene to ensure that normalcy returns to the community. She added that the invasion had affected the socio-economic situation of the area.

     “We can’t go to the market any longer. Those who opened their shops are operating in fear that those hoodlums would descend on them at any time.

     “The government should not fold its hands and watch them kill us all,” she said.

     Chief Nurudeen Alebiosu, the Asobaloju of Ibasa Ijegun-Egba land said the hoodlums are going about with guns and machetes, stopping and extorting commercial motorcycle and tricycle operators. They beat those who are indigenous to the land.

     “We appeal to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to come to our aid in Ibasa Ijegun-Egba Community. We are no longer safe here.

    “The Inspector-General of Police should also investigate the involvement of his men in this matter.

    “Since they left on October 27, the hoodlums have taken over the town; wreaking havoc and beating the citizens,” he said.

    A trader at the Ijegun-Egba Market who sells meat, Alhaji Kazeem Salami, said they were not allowed to sell their meat as some of the hoodlums beat and sent their customers away.

    Salami called for the government’s intervention so that peace would return to the market and the community.

    Mr. Tunde Sanni, a contractor handling the construction of the Ijegun-Egba Market, said the hoodlums seized their tools and other materials and sent workers away from the project.

    According to him, it took the intervention of the Chairman of Oriade LCDA for the hoodlums to release the tools.

    “Up till now, our workers have not returned to the site because those hoodlums are still around, wreaking havoc on the town and market,” he said.

    When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for Zone 2 Onikan Superintendent Hauwa Idris-Adamu said she was unaware of the incident.

    She said they have many departments in Zone 2. She also promised to find out the department in charge of the case and get back to us.

  • Residents appeal to Sanwo-Olu over land grabbers

    Residents appeal to Sanwo-Olu over land grabbers

    Residents of Kudeti Estate in Akora Estate in Lagos State have sent a ‘Save Our Soul’ message to Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, over land grabbers trying to claim their homes and land.

     The SOS was sent to Sanwo-Olu by residents while addressing reporters.

     According to them, mostly elderly men and women, the issues with the land grabbers dated back to some years.

     They claim the land grabbers have been brandishing a court judgment from another piece of land in another section of that area while claiming it extends to their land. The residents said that though they have been resisting their aggressors, the situation has got to a level they are scared to enter their homes.

     Calling on Sanwo-Olu to come to their aid, residents alleged thugs forcefully enter people’s lands and destroy property.

      Kunle Lawal, with property at 8, Ola Oluwa Close, Kudeti, off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja, said: when people come to take your property with weapons, they are no longer land grabbers, but bandits.

    Furthermore, he added land bandits are like kidnappers, saying when those involved get away with one case, they try another.

    Read Also; Oil theft: Firms, MDAs, host communities involved, say security chiefs

    He pleaded with Sanwo-Olu to save their souls in Kudeti Estate by calling the land bandits to order, investigate them, and get them punished.

     Another resident said: “Adeniyi Jones is close to Alausa, and any trouble that starts there if not well managed will spill into the seat of government.

    ‘’As peaceful people, we don’t want this to happen. Hence, we urge Sanwo-Olu to intervene to avoid a breach of peace and loss of lives. It is not something people will just ignore.

    ‘’These people have claimed land in the estate and they mark our buildings with X and put stickers on our houses. They have done a Caveat Emptor on the estate, on land they do not own, and they did not win any case on…’’

    We respect the governor, we know he is doing a good job, and as such, we please urge him to Save Our Souls. It’s becoming more physical and dangerous to reside in this place, please save our lives,” he concluded.

     Most residents of the estate revealed that they purchased their properties as far back as 1995, while others said they bought their own earlier.

  • Indigenes allege land grabbers sack Ogun villages

    Indigenes of eight communities in Oko-Makun, Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State on Monday protested at Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office, Abeokuta, calling on Governor Dapo Abiodun to protect them from land grabbers.

    They alleged that the land grabbers have evicted them from their ancestral land, destroying farm crops and fishponds.

    The villagers lamented the loss of their means of livelihood totalling millions of naira to the routine raid on their farms and homes by the land grabbers.

    According to them, the land grabbers have foisted a traditional ruler (Baale) on them.

    Leaders and representatives of the eight communities – Ewu Oje, Ewu Lisa, Kaniyi, Ewu Losi, Dodogiri, Amiteku, Ajagun and Gushenmedo  – appealed to the governor to protect and defend them.

    The placard-carrying villagers alleged that the land grabbers led by Otunba Kamorudeen Lamina, popularly called Sir K. Oluwo, have been destroying their farm produce and encroaching on their lands since 2014.

    Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: “Governor Dapo Abiodun please save us from Sir K”, “Save our souls from Otunba Sir K. Oluwo is ruining our heritage at Makun Sagamu” and “Ogun State Governor Dapo Abiodun save us from this notorious land grabber called Sir K. Oluwo”.

    The secretary of the affected villages, Mr. Lanre Olusanya Dada, spoke on behalf of the villagers while addressing the governor’s representatives led by the Chief of Staff, Salisu Shuaibu.

    He  alleged that Kamorudeen in connivance with other land grabbers and hoodlums have been invading their villages, savaging farmlands, crops and fish ponds.

    Dada said the wife of the Oditan Pataraku family head at Ewu Oje village while fleeing from land grabbers during one of their raids, fell on her chest and died.

    He noted that the communities have written many petitions to police formations, former Governor Ibikunle Amosun and 8th Ogun State House of Assembly without respite.

    Read Also: Monarch, chiefs flay confusion, disaffection in Ogun community

    According to him, their oppressors have ways of using the police to gain upper hands against them.

    He said: “The land grabbers have heavily occupied the entire land of the six communities, having invaded and sent packing all the land owners, farmers, villagers, thereby depriving them of the ownership of their properties and inheritance. Governor Dapo Abiodun should please help us and deliver us from this notorious land grabber “.

    Also speaking, Captain Michael Adesonubi, a serving marine officer, said the communities, through their lawyer, Wale Ayodele, petitioned the Deputy Commissioner of Police and the Inspector- General of Police Monitoring Unit at the Force headquarters, Abuja on the matter, who invited them.

    He said they went to Abuja three times but all to no avail.

    Captain Adesonubi said in the fourth time, they were kidnapped at Kabba, Kogi State on September 14, 2017, by kidnappers on their way to Abuja, lamenting that while four people, including himself, were kidnapped on that day, their captors freed only three after paying N5 million ransom and spending two weeks in the bush.

    He said the fourth person, Tajudeen Otesile, alias Baba Ibeji, was taken to a different location and has since not been found since 2017.

    He urged the government to act fast to save the communities from the land grabbers.

    Shuaibu, who addressed the protesters on behalf of the governor, lauded them for conducting themselves peacefully despite provocations.

    The Chief of Staff, who appealed to them to exercise patience with the assurance that the governor would look into the matter, reminded the villagers that there is already an existing anti-land grabbing law in the state.

    Shuaibu maintained that the new government would implement it to it fullest.

  • Save us from land grabbers, Ilubinrin residents plead

    The residents of Ilubinrin, Badore in Eti Osa Local Council in Lagos State made up mainly of fishermen and women took to the street in protest in their community calling on the state government to save them from suspected land grabbers who are encroaching on their properties. The protest took them from Badore junction to Ilubinrin bearing placards with various inscriptions.

    Baale and Secretary of the Community, Chief John Gandonu and Pastor Francis Ayodele who led the protesters said they have sent a Save Our Soul (SOS) appeal to the state government over alleged encroachment of their properties. The Residents complained that a Businessman(names withheld), who operates Boat Transportation Business in the axis was encroaching on their land and harassing them with uniformed task force operatives.

    They appealed to the government to save them from invaders, as they would not want to take laws into their hands. Expressing displeasure over the development, Mrs Mary Gandonu, a woman leader of Ilubinrin, urged government to consider the right of people living in that area and halt the activities of the grabbers.

  • Residents protest invasion, harassment by land grabbers

    Residents of Millennium Citi Centre Estate (MCCE), Gbagada, Lagos, yesterday protested harassment by suspected land grabbers.

    Chanting solidarity songs, the protesters stood outside the entrance of the estate from 7am, carrying placards with the inscription: ”We are law-abiding citizens, land grabbers leave us alone.”

    They accused land grabbers, popularly called omo onile, of unlawful invasion and instigating illegal arrest of private security personnel employed by the residents’ community development association.

    The demonstrators faulted the arrest of a security supervisor, Mr. Iyeke Williams and Jide Babalola, a barber in the estate and their subsequent parade by the police on national television.

    The chairman of the residents’ association, Mr. Soji Adeniji, said a faction of another family, having been politely prevented from forcibly entering the estate by security team, connived with the police to arrest and brutalise Williams and Babalola.

    He said: ”As the drama was unfolding, I was out of Lagos but I was receiving updates via telephone calls and on our estate’s social media platforms. The arrested victims were ordered by the police to lead them to my house. Since I was out of town, they forced themselves into my home and conducted a search without any warrant. My family was gripped with fear.

    “Throughout last week, the same team repeatedly came to my home at odd hours to ransack the place in search of me, with the intention to abduct and humiliate me over trumped up charges.”

    Adeniji appealed to the police authority to caution its operatives against being used by land grabbers to carry out illegal arrest.

    ”We have different omo onile (land grabbers) and all of them have militias that invade the estate and engage one another in supremacy battle. We do not want to be in the middle of this tug of war. They all have law suits against /among them that are yet to be decided by the courts and despite that they resort to self-help to claim ownership. Some residents of MCCE have even had to make payments to at least two of these families, to prevent disturbances.

    ”We call on the Inspector-General of Police to intervene, direct the release of the persons being illegally detained since September 13 and instruct officers and men of the Nigeria Police to stop lending themselves to being used for brazen illegality.”

    A representative of the original land owner, Antonio Delfino Da Meranda Family, Pastor Kolawole Shotayo, said his family sold the land to residents, adding that some persons who filed a suit against the family had resorted to self-help, instead of waiting for the outcome of the suit.

    ”I represent the owner of the land where the estate is situated, Delfino Da Meranda Family. We sold all the land in the area between 2002 and 2014.

    ”However, in 2010, members of a family that has nothing to do with our land filed a suit against us at a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, presided over by Justice Olayinka. The suit is due for hearing again on November 7.

    ”If the family in question wants to do anything in the estate, they are supposed to file an interlocutory injunction. But instead of doing that they are carrying out illegal arrests.”

  • Lawyer petitions AIG over land grabbers’ threat

    A Lagos lawyer, Mr Ige Asemudara, has petitioned the Assistant Inspect-General of Police, Zone 2  Command, over the activities of suspected land grabbers in Ito-Agan, a riverine community in Satellite Town, Lagos.

    He said the land grabbers invaded the community  with  men believed to be from the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    The lawyer said his clients, especially the community leaders, have been unable to access their homes, adding that some of their houses have been demolished by the land grabbers.

    Asemudara had earlier petitioned the AIG on March 29 alleging threat to the life of the community’s leader, Chief Lot Ikuesan, and other residents.

    He said instead of the police to investigate Ikuesan’s allegation that there was a plot to kidnap him, the community leader and 20 others were arrested by policemen from Ilado and Alakija divisions, as well as those from SARS Ikeja.

    Asemudara said while Chief Ikuesan was released on August 9, others were charged before a Magistrate’s Court and were still in custody.

    According to him, while Chief Ikuesan and others were in detention, the alleged land grabbers, accompanied by armed thugs, invaded the community and destroyed properties worth millions of naira, forcefully ejecting residents.

    Asemudara said his clients could not return to their various homes for fear of being killed.

    He alleged that his clients have continuously being unlawfully arrested and hounded into detention since August 5.

    He said it was all in a bid by the land grabbers and their powerful backers to take over the community’s land.

    The lawyer urged the AIG to use his good offices to investigate the allegations, restore peace in the community, and to bring the policemen involved to book.

    It was learnt that the AIG has received the petition and referred it to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police Edgal Imohimni for further action.

     

  • Land grabbers

    •In the light of the Plateau killings and displacements, we must arrest and prosecute the colonisers

    The killings in Plateau State jolted many in the country because the state seemed an island in a region febrile with herdsmen rage and prejudice. One of the capital announcements from the tragedy was that 52 villages had been colonised by the rampaging herders.

    One of the major ethnic groups of the state, the Berom, alleged that their people have become homeless and displaced persons in their own state and country. According to the Plateau Initiative for Development and Advancement of the Natives(PIDAN), which represents all the ethnic nationalities in the state, it was high time the Federal Government not only investigated the killings and their consequences, but also reinvented the security apparatus in the state. This would create a ready response to such savagery if they reoccur.

    But more potent was the statement by the vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, that all of the citizens displaced would be resettled in their ancestral homes. PIDAN broke down the details of the villages routed by the barbarous hordes. According to its president, Dr.Aboi Madaki, 22 of the sacked villages are in the Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, 18 in Riyom Local Government Area and seven from Bokkos Local Government Area. Seven also belong to Bassa Local Government Area.

    If Plateau State has such a story of grim pathos, other states in the region have suffered similar eviscerations. They include neighbouring Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Kaduna and Nasarawa states. It is a story of preventable human agony. The occupiers do not just sack the villages, they take them over in volitions of impunity that only hark back to the age of caverns.

    According to various reports, the herdsmen take over the homes, farms, hunting grounds and fishing waters of the natives. They even convert their worship centres into private heaths in what is the peak of violations of a people’s holy of holies.

    This sort of behaviour has been going on in the past few years, and it is not as if the security agencies, including the Department of State Services (DSS), are not aware of these dramas of insolence. They have been reported in the media, civil societies have wailed over them as well as the displaced persons.

    Yet, the response of the vice president seems to occlude an important part of Federal Government’s responsibility. That is, the Nigerian Armed Forces should deploy men and ammunition not only to retake the villages, but to capture, arrest and prosecute those who are not mere trespassers but land grabbers.

    If we want a solution to this problem of herdsmen’s spasms of slaughter, we have to impress it upon the land grabbers that the law frowns with indignation at larceny of other people’s ancestral lands and they have to face the full penal ferocity. Vice President Osinbajo’s remarks seem coy and even unconsciously quiet about the hammer that should fall on these savage land grabbers.

    The Plateau State governor, Simon Lalong, made it clear that land grabbers are not acceptable in his state and that they have to be flushed out. But they have to face the full weight of the society’s law. Part of the challenge is that state governors lack the powers to rein in such outbursts of local tyrannies. Hence Zamfara State governor symbolically dropped his power as the chief security officer.

    The PIDAN president hit the bull’s eye when he asserted that the country should “allow the chief security officer of the state to have the power to draw on the security operatives in the early phase of any attack without making recourse to the president.”

    That is the crux of the matter.

  • Land grabbers allegedly eject family of seven, others from home

    Suspected hoodlums have allegedly ejected a family of seven and other residents from their homes in Fakale-Awosan community near Odo Kekere, Ikorodu, Lagos State.

    The hoodlums were allegedly working for  one Chief Kamorudeen Lamina popularly known as Sir K Oluwo.

    The incident happened penultimate Thursday.

    According to a distraught resident, Hakeem Odele, whose family of seven were among the displaced residents, the armed hoodlums pulled down  his son’s block making factory and chased him and his children from home.

    He said: ‘’ Hoodlums working for Sir K Oluwo, aided by policemen invaded our property on Thursday and arrested my son, Wasiu Odele and two others.

    ‘’ They were taken to Ipakodo Ebute Police Station, Ikorodu, detained for two days and transferred to the office of Special Anti-Robbery Squad(SARS) where they were also detained and later released on bail on June 12.

    ‘’Sir K Oluwo and his boys destroyed my son’s block industry, and carted away three motorcycles parked at the premises.”

    Odele noted that some disgruntled members of his family had invited Sir K Oluwo and his boys to settle a feud over landed property belonging to the family.

    He said: ‘’ Our land is about 255 hectares and we shared the land into three; a faction of the family brought Sir K Oluwo to snatch our own portion of the land after they sold the portion allocated to them. We have been rendered homeless by Sir K and his boys, they have prevented us from entering our house. The hoodlums are armed with rifles and they are still occupying the land as I speak. Please, let the Lagos State Government come to our rescue and save us from homelessness by stopping Sir K Oluwo and his boys.

    Another victim, who asked not to be named said the hoodlums have started clearing the bush on her landed property preparatory to selling it.

    ‘’ I bought the land from the authentic owners but the land grabbers suddenly invaded the place last Thursday and cleared the bush on it in order to sell the place to another person.’’

    In his response on telephone, Lamina denied complicity in the matter.

    ‘’ I have no hand in the alleged invasion of their landed property. I am not working around Fakale or any other part of Ikorodu, at the moment I am working on a site in Mowe, Ogun State. Please, tell them to arrest anyone claiming to be my boy at their site because I did not send any of my boys to go there,’’ he said.

    It will be recalled that Lamina was arrested last year for allegedly forcibly dispossessing a woman, Mrs Ebere Okafor of one plot of land in Mowo Kekere area of Ikorodu Local Government.

    He was arraigned alongside six others: Omotola Ogunsanmi; Samson Shobule (A.K.A Samson Salau); Biliaminu Orega (A.K.A Biliaminu Salau); Jimoh Aromasodu; Alhaji Wasiu Orenuga and Alhaji Nurudeen Kasali on a six-count charge before the Lagos State Special Offences Court sitting in Oshodi and subsequently granted bail, by the presiding magistrate, Mr Lateef Owolabi.