The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Land grabbers

  • ‘Save us from land grabbers’

    The Igbaro Eshinlokun Oteshade Royal Family of Lagos State has cried out over their land which is being trespassed by some people who claim to be officials of the Lagos State government.

    During a press conference by the family at Oko Addo Village, Ajah, Prince Malik K. O. Eshinlokun, said without consultation or any form of compensation, “our land is being unlawfully allocated to companies, families and individuals.”

    He also said the family became suspicious of these people allocating land because of non- involvement of the Lands Bureau, Alausa, Ikeja, as it used to be in normal cases.

    He further said: “The Igbaro Eshinlokun Oteshade Royal Family of Oko Addo Village, Addo Nla Town, Eti-Osa Local Government Area, Lagos State are the beneficial owners of the vast area of land at Oko Addo Village, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Eti-Osa Local Government Area.

    “We got the land through inheritance under the Yoruba native law and custom from our great grandfather, namely, Igbaro Oteshade of Addo Land who founded the area now known as Oko-Addo. The entire parcel of land was about 79,994 hectares.

    “We have been in possession of this parcel of land and have been exercising various acts of ownership on the land by farming, building and even alienating portions of same to third parties without let or hindrance. This land has now almost been decimated through indiscriminate allocation of same to individuals, families and corporate bodies.

    “All appeals to stop this illegality and unlawful act have fallen on deaf ears as our family land has now become a source of compensation to any interested party.

    “We call on the Lagos State Government to help us stop this illegality by dealing with these land grabbers. They are not Lagos State Government officials. We believe that genuine Lagos State Government officials will not involve themselves in this type of illegality.”

    Reporters were later conducted around the trespassed land.

  • Save us from land grabbers, Ogun community begs Amosun, IGP

    The Oshin descen-dant family and other residents of Oshinboyede village in Ogijo town of Sagamu South Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Ogun State have called on Governor Ibikunle Amosun and the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, to save them from the activities of land speculators, who are bent on dispossessing them of their inheritance.
    At a press conference addressed by Prince Ganiyu Olowofela Adeniyi and Prince Olajide Okeowo Rosegun, Family Head and General Secretary of the Oshin descendants respectively, the villagers said a group of people, led by one Kasali Sadiku and ably assisted by a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), stormed the community on January 6, 2017 between 12.30am and 3am, and abducted three members of the family, including the family head, Prince Adeniyi, while armed thugs that came with them unleashed mayhem on the entire community.
    “They did this with the intention of taking over our land. Kasali had earlier forced his son on the village as its Baale in spite of mass resistance from family members and residents of the community. This he also did as part of a grand plot to take over the family land, ably assisted by the land grabbers supported by the retired DIG.
    “We plead that all those arrested in connection with the invasion of our peaceful community should not be allowed to go unpunished. We also insist that both Kasali and the retired DIG aiding and abetting him should be made to face the full wrath of the law,” Prince Adeniyi pleaded.

  • Lawyer writes Ambode, police over land grabbers’ threat

    Lawyer writes Ambode, police over land grabbers’ threat

    A Lagos lawyer, Gbenga Ojo, has urged Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to probe the release of suspected land grabbers by the Task Force on Environment and Special Offences Enforcement Unit.

    In a petition to the governor, which was also sent to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Zone 2 Command, the lawyer said his client, Chief Ishau Ogunlana, head of Aderoruwa Family of Agofunloye, Idi Orogbo Village, first wrote the governor last September 19 over “acts of criminal invasion” of the community by land speculators.

    Ojo said the governor, as “a no-nonsense leader”, referred the petition to the chairman of the Task Force for action.

    The lawyer said on January 17, the Task Force stormed the community and arrested some of the hoodlums stationed illegally on the land and recovered weapons such as guns and cutlasses from them.

    The suspects, he said, were interrogated and sent to the Committee on Land Grabbing for evaluation, ahead of their arraignment in court.

    “Unfortunately, the suspects and their backers made personal arrangements and clandestinely secured their release without any authority or directives of the chairman of the Task Force,” Ojo said.

    The lawyer said the recovered weapons were still in custody of the Task Force while the suspects were at large.

    “The hoodlums are regrouping with their full force to attack the community again,” Ojo wrote in the letter to the governor, signed by a lawyer in his firm, Yusuf Lawal.

    He described the situation as “worrisome “, saying it negated the state’s efforts at tackling the manace of land grabbers.

    According to the lawyer, the development was “enough to trigger immediate investigation before the situation embarrasses the office of the executive governor.”

    In the September 19 letter to Ambode, Ojo alleged that the community was invaded by armed thugs to suppress a valid court judgment in suit no IKD/2/2007.

    The Ikorodu High Court had on January 14, 2011 given a judgment in Ogunlana’s favour.

    It held: “It is hereby declared that the defendant (Ogunlana) is the head of the Adeyoruwa family of Agunfoye, Idiorogbo, in Igbogbo area of Lagos State.

    “It is hereby declared that all sales or transfers of interest in respect of portions of the Adeyoruwa family land carried out by the claimants without the consent of the defendant as family head are illegal, void and of no effect.

    “It is hereby ordered that the defendant is entitled to the immediate possession of all the portions of the Adeyoruwa family land sold by the claimants without the consent of the defendant as the head of family.”

    Justice M. A. Savage, in a ruling on July 2, 2015, held that the judgment remained valid, binding and subsisting until otherwise pronounced by a higher court.

    The judge also granted an ex-parte application for leave to levy execution of the judgment by taking possession of the land.

  • Save us from land grabbers, families appeal to Ambode, IGP

    FIVE families and other residents in Olokonla Town in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State have called on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and Inspector General of Police I. Idris to save them from “land grabbers who are bent on dispossessing us of our belongings.”

    At a press conference addressed by Olayinka Odedina, the spokesman of the  Bakare Odedina, Orebiyi, Seidu Ogunleye, Idowu Bakare, Amoja Oseni families and other residents, said a group of people, who claimed to be government officers led by a man who claimed to be an army captain, stormed the town on December 16 at 7.30am and destroyed buildings and properties worth N15 billion with the intention of taking over their land.

    He further said: “On December 8, copies of some contravention notices dated December 6 were pasted on some of our buildings at Olokonla Town by some men who claimed to be officers of the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development with a threat of demolition of our said properties.

    “Though we did not believe that these men were genuine ministry officers, we promptly asked our solicitor, Rasaq Abudu, to write letters to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, the Attorney General and Commissioner  for Justice, the General Manager, New Town Development Agency (NTDA) and all other necessary ministries and agencies intimating them with the fact that the matter is subjudice before Honourable Justice Olokooba at the High Court of Lagos State holden in Epe in suit no: LD/091LMW/2015- Alhaji Olakunle Bakare & ORS – V – Executive Governor of Lagos State & ORS.

    “More importantly, the defendants, through the Office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, responded to all the processes in the suit, wherein the court had on October 15, 2015 ordered parties to maintain status quo ante belum and the trial had been scheduled to commence on February 1, 2017.

    “We believe these men are not Lagos State government officers. They are fake officers supported by hoodlums to carry out atrocities on our land.

    “In the light of this, we are calling on our good governor we voted for as members of the APC to wade into this matter in the interest of peace and justice.”

    At the end of the conference, reporters were conducted round the demolished buildings. The residents displayed placards, begging Governor Ambode to investigate the matter.

  • Moving against land grabbers in Ogun

    An insurance executive in Lagos who sought to relocate to Ota, Ogun State and probably bring along foreign partners for a new firm was held back by reports of the violent activities of land speculators. He gathered that these land grabbers otherwise called Omo onile were a force to reckon with if you wanted to develop your legitimate property either for business or for residential purposes. He told me he had acquired the land and was ready to move to Ota but was scared that heavily armed rival gangs of these indigenous speculators would stall the project and frustrate his expatriate partners. Eventually he spiked the idea.

    Who lost? A superficial verdict would be that our man lost the opportunity to open new frontiers in business in Ogun. Really? The ultimate loser was the Ogun State government which had left the vandals unchecked. It lost the taxes that the projected insurance firm and its employees would have paid into its treasury; it also blew the chance to depopulate the labour market; it gave the impression Ogun was not habitable nor was it safe for investment, business and tourism, all massive revenue earners and employers of labour.

    But last week, good news came when Governor Ibikunle Amosun took a firm step to outlaw that perception of his state as the den of the criminal activities of the Omo onile. He signed the anti-land grabbing bill into law with quite stiff penalties for its infringement. Imprisonment for 25 years or death sentence awaits anyone found guilty of the offence of land robbery.

    The law prohibits “forcible entry and occupation of landed properties, violent and fraudulent conducts in relation to landed properties, armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism and allied matters incidental thereto…” According to the law, death sentence applies when a life or lives are lost in such forceful take-over of land. Kidnappers also risk life sentence.

    After signing the bill into law, Amosun said the state would not be a “comfort zone for criminals.” He had tough words for them. He declared: “We want to let people know that Ogun State would not be comfort zone for any criminal or so-called Omo onile (land grabbers). They have engaged in maiming, killing and lawlessness. But now the law will go after them. We are now having enabling law to prosecute and anybody that runs foul of this law of course will have himself or herself to blame… I want to believe that with the operation of this law, criminals will run away from the state.”

    The state Commissioner of Police Ahmed Iliyasu said at the signing of the law in Abeokuta: “This is a clarion call to all criminals, armed robbers, kidnappers, cultists and so on that there is no place for them in Ogun State. They should relocate because there is no room for them. We are ready to enforce the law.”

    The birthing of the new law taming the land grabbers has excited residents, investors and tourists with Ogun notably Ota as their destination. Ota in particular has been economically and developmentally been stagnant for decades due to the reign of terror put in place by the vandals called Omo onile. They sell and re-sell the same land many times over to a thousand and one persons. They encroach upon occupied property and break down perimeter fences to make way for new and exorbitant transactions. They exact outrageous levies when you start to develop your property. And during construction they move in again to demand even more killer sums. They form violent gangs that disturb the peace of the community. They maim and kill when resisted. In a word, they are a law unto themselves, forming parallel governments where they operate.

    Their existence has retarded the development of Ogun State. For a state contiguous to Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous boasting the largest economy, Ogun ought to be benefiting immensely from this proximity. But investors do not want to come in, fearing they would be grounded by the land robbers. They are apprehensive about their personal security and safety. They fear for their families and what might happen to the enormous capital they would be pumping into their planned undertakings.

    The economic weights of their businesses in Ogun would lead to the resurgence of the economy and the empowerment of the citizens. In turn, these would enlarge the purse of the government to enable it attain massive social and economic renaissance. This is what Ogun State needs in this era of economic recession. The activities of the Omo onile are particularly harmful to two of Amosun’s Five Cardinal Programmes, namely Increased Agricultural Production/Industrialization and Rural and Infrastructural Development/Employment Generation, respectively the third and fifth objectives. Pray, how do you achieve these strategic programmes when land, the major ingredient for the success of these ventures, is in the killer grasp of criminals?

    Those who want to heed Amosun’s call to move into the state to reside there or run their businesses are now assured that they have a government that would use the rule of law to shield them from murderous marauders. A good government is known by its ability to protect and secure its citizens as well as save them from the fear of those who would prey on them and their legitimately earned money. Indeed the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria states this unequivocally in the early lines Chapter 2 of the document. Providing “security and welfare of the people” is the “primary purpose of government,” according to the sacred scroll.

    The next step of the Amosun administration is to establish a task force statewide to patrol the inner communities and enforce the law. The presence of members of this task force will check the gathering of the land grabbers as they are wont to do when planning to molest the citizens. The government should also set up active helplines to reach when there is a violation of the new statute. That is how the neighbouring Lagos State is implementing its own anti-land gabbing law it promulgated in August this year.

     

    • Ojewale, a writer sent in this piece via bmrtbo@yahoo.com.

  • As Ogun declares war on land-grabbers

    SIR: On Monday, November 14, , a law against land-grabbing became operative throughout the length and breadth of Ogun State. The sentences imposed against violators of the law range between 25 years of imprisonment and death sentence.

    These gangsters wield dangerous weapons and demand obedience or capitulation from their victims. They operate like a mafia, “by fire, by force”. They are found in virtually every developing communities or new towns, where construction work is a defining feature. Their leaders live big.

    Sometimes they operate as rivals groups where there is a conflict of interest but their ultimate goal is the same – fleece their victims! Sometimes there is mutual collaboration. What you observe from one community to the other is only a variation in their degree of bestiality. Some of them come with documents, pasting them all over your new building or ongoing construction work with the same authority you could only have expected from government officials. The usual claim is that the land belongs to their family and that you had paid the wrong person or party. And for any resolution, you will have to repurchase the land! Any attempt to argue with them may leave you battered, maimed or butchered, in the worst scenario.

    And once there is construction work going on, they or another insatiate gang still reserves the right to be “settled” so they could allow workmen to continue else they seize all the tools in sight after some thorough beating. You have to abide by their terms willy-nilly.

    The government of Ogun State has done all within its power to tame these monsters. And some of them, we must acknowledge, have been tamed. But the position of the state governor is not to condone illegality in any form. It does not matter their largely restricted locations, reduction in the degree of their violent conducts or numbers. Any form or degree of illegality must be extirpated from the polity. This position of the governor is quite commendable and in line with the constitution. One is not really surprised because since assumption of office in 2011, Amosun has made security of life and welfare of all residents’ top priorities.

    According to Governor Ibikunle Amosun, “We want to let people know that Ogun State will not be comfort zone for any criminal or so-called omo oniles (land grabbers). They have engaged in maiming, killing and lawlessness. But now, the law will go after them. We are now having an enabling law to prosecute and anybody that runs foul of this law will have himself or herself to blame.

    “To the kidnappers, they know that this is their end. Anybody that involves himself in kidnapping, armed robbery and all these social vices will not be allowed in Ogun State. I want to believe that with the operation of this law, criminals will run away from the state.”

    The state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, equally has a word for the violent syndicates: “This is a clarion call to all criminals, armed robbers, kidnappers, cultists and so on that there is no place for them in Ogun State. They should relocate because there is no room for them. We are ready to enforce the law.”

    We commend the Ogun State House of Assembly and the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for the new law and congratulate the people of the state for the further reprieve the new legislation will provide. It is, however, their responsibility to report any breach of the new law to the police, who must act with deliberate speed to prosecute offenders. Security of life and property is the responsibility of all.

     

    • Daniel Olakunle

    Akute, Ogun State

  • College praises Fed Govt intervention on land grabbers

    As the Federal College of Agriculture Akure (FECA) rolls out the drums for its 60th  Anniversary early next year, its management has praised the Federal Government for intervening in the problem of land grabbing in the institution.

    Its Provost, Dr Samson Odedina spoke at a briefing to unveil  activities lined up to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the institution.

    He said the pending case between the institution and land grabbers has been moved to the Appeal Court.

    Odedina is hopeful that all those who destroy government properties are being prosecuted.

    He said FECA had moved the college higher via various partnerships with organisations in the agriculture sector.

    The don lamented the exclusion of  colleges of agriculture offering National Diploma(ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), which he described as a ‘national error’ that must be  corrected.

    Odedina said: “The implication of this is that about 500,000 youths in over 40 colleges of agriculture nationwide, will be learning under poor infrastructures, and poor interest in taking agriculture as a vocation.”

    He added: “Sixty per cent of our original land is gone, while the remaining 40 per cent which is occupied by rocks and motor parks around is under threat of sponsored litigations.

    “How can some people wake up in 2014 and lay claim to the land legally acquired since 1949, and such people continue to receive sympathy from certain government officials?’’

    He urged all well-meaning Nigerians, including alumni in the country and Diaspora, to come to the aid of their alma mater.

  • Residents to Amosun, police: save us from land grabbers

    Residents to Amosun, police: save us from land grabbers

    Residents of Ogo Oluwa, Promise Estate, Surulere Estate and others in the Ado-Odo/ Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State have appealed to Governor Ibikunle Amosun to save them from land grabbers who they alleged “threaten them daily”.

    The residents, who spoke to The Nation through the Chairman of the Ogo Oluwa Ijaba Community Development Association (CDA), Mr. Amos Akinbode, alleged that the Ijaba Ogunronbi family, the land owners, “are exploiting them by asking them to re-buy their lands”.

    Akinbode said: “Members of the family claim to fight one another. One of them will go to court and obtain judgment that he is the owner of the land. He will now ask us to re-buy the land at an exorbitant rate, after which they (members of the family) will share the money. This fraudulent act has occurred more than four times.

    “The family is threatening us through hoodlums who have pasted a fake court order on our houses, saying we should re-buy our land again.

    “The incessant threats we receive from the land grabbers has forced most residents to flee for their dear lives. This has affected the development of the community.

    “These land grabbers are armed with locally-made guns and cutlasses, terrorising members of the community.

    “We implore the governor to investigate this matter. We are worried. Most landlords and landladies have been subjected to indiscriminate re-purchase of their lands from the family.

    “We wish to inform you that these land grabbers terrorise residents and extort money from them through the aid of law enforcement agents”.

    They have refused to recognise the Certificates of Occupancy (C of O) issued by Governor Amosun.

    “The community has been experiencing robberies and burglaries because of the invasion by hoodlums. We have warned residents to be vigilant, as this may lead to kidnapping and other crimes.

    “We implore the governor to stop threats and nefarious activities carried out by these land grabbers, as no one is above the law.”

    Besides Governor Amosun, the CDA petitioned the Inspector-General of Police; Femi Falana (SAN); Nigerian Human Rights Commission; Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly; Commissioner of Police; Office of CID, Eleweran, Abeokuta; Oba of Ota; Area Commander, Nigeria Police, Sango-Ota; DPO, Onipanu Ota; DSS Ogun State and Mr. Tajudeen Ojuelegba.

    Efforts to speak with members of the Ijaba Ogunronbi family proved abortive, as none of them was willing to speak with our reporter at press time.

  • Three land grabbers arrested in Lagos

    Police operatives attached to the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Zone II Command, Onikan, Lagos, have arrested three suspected land grabbers at Ibeju-Lekki.

    Ibrahim Oduola, AbdulAfeez Oduola and Joseph Akintunde were arrested at Orudu and Oke Olokun Village on Saturday by the zonal anti-kidnapping team.

    According to the spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, a Superintendent of Police (SP), his boss, AIG Abdulmajid Ali, deployed policemen to the area to restore normalcy after he was informed of hoodlums’ activities.

    Adejobi said, “He gave the team strict orders to arrest anyone engaging in illegal act. The team on arrival, accosted a group of hoodlums suspected to belong to two rival land ‘warriors,’ set to attack each other.

    “Oduola was found with a bag on his neck and when the bag was searched, two battle axes, two sharp knives and assorted charms among other items were seen in it. He was arrested.

    “The suspect confessed that he went with other members of his gang to Oke Olokun Village to repel attacks from the rival group. Oduola’s arrest led to the arrest of the other two suspects. They were charged to court as directed by the AIG.”

  • Save us from ‘land grabbers’, Lekki community urges Ambode

    Save us from ‘land grabbers’, Lekki community urges Ambode

    Communities within Ibeju-Lekki axis have decried what they called invasion of their land by grabbers.
    They appealed to the Lagos State Task Force on Land Grabbing to halt what they described as “promotion of terrorism.”
    The communities are Oko-Olomi, Olowu-Oko-Olomi, Adeba Jaguna, Itapampa, Adeba Onikonko, Oko-Ile, Oko-Jegi, Alabula, Seriki Alabula and Alaga.
    A statement by their lawyer, Bamidele Ogundele, said the hoodlums shot sporadically before demolishing houses.
    Residents, Ogundele said, were caught unawares and could not go about their businesses.
    “The hoodlums invaded 10 communities. They claimed to have Certificate of Occupancy on the 1,561.20 hectares of land in the communities,” he said.
    Ogundele appealed to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to intervene in the matter.
    An affected resident, Mrs Antoine Djoyi, said: “The hoodlums came in and sent every one packing. We couldn’t sleep for three days and our children couldn’t go to school because they were shooting. So there was no point staying when we were not safe.
    “Initially, we thought the tension would ease but that was not the case. Before we knew what was happening, they brought caterpillar and dug the ground. So we could not drive in and out. They started putting wire to fence the community and demolished houses one after the other. When we bought the land, we didn’t know of any prior owner. My property was demolished including documents and all that we laboured for over 20 years. Some of us now live in uncompleted buildings. We are pleading with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to help us resolve this issue.”