The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Land

  • Family petitions police over land

    The Onafonyin family of Isiu in the Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State has appealed to the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Mr. Kakwe Christopher Katso, to save it from an unprofessional and illegal investigation carried out by some policemen to pervert justice and prevent the family from reaping the fruit of its labour on its land.

    In a petition, written by the solicitor to the family, Mr. Tunji Busari, dated Thursday, May 2016, sent to Mr. Katso, the family frowned at the way the policemen shoddily and maliciously handled a land matter belonging to it brought by the proprietor of a private university.

    According to the petition, the way and manner the Imota Police Division carried out its investigation of the complaint of the proprietor was to obstruct the judgment creditors, which is the family, from reaping the fruit of the judgment delivered by Hon. Justice H.A.O. Abiru of High Court of Lagos State, Ikorodu Judicial Division, dated September 11, 2008 in favour of the Onafonyin  family.

    Mr. Busari noted that based on a ruling empowering the judgment creditors to take possession of the land dated May, 19 2015, the family engaged the services of surveyors to conduct the perimeter survey of the said land adjudged to belong to the family.

    He said, to his dismay, when the surveyors mobilized their men to work on the said parcel of land, the university’s men came with the police to arrest “our clients, workers and surveyors on site.”

    “On getting to the Imota Police Station, our clients’ men were directed to vacate the said parcel of land within five days, otherwise our clients and their workers shall be dealt with brutally without even considering the fact that our clients had a judgment declaring them owners of the said parcel of land absolutely.”

    According to the family solicitor, the action of the proprietor of the university with full support and assistance of the police was a gross violation of the principle of law and contempt of law “but our clients being law-abiding citizens decided that the matter be investigated by your honourable office which is full of capable and proficient force men an investigators into this matter.”

    In the light of this, the family appealed to Mr. Katso to use its good offices to wade into this matter “to save our clients from being the victims of an inept, unprofessional and illegal investigation”.

  • Ogun communities in court over land

    The Akasun Community in Ogun State has asked an Ota High Court to award them N20million damages over the alleged destructions of their property following a land dispute.

    The dispute is over a land measuring 1175.445 hectares at Ere Ward, Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government area.

    It is said to have led to the destruction of over 250 houses worth N15million; carting away of 250 cows, 400 goats, 700 pigs, 800 ducks and other domestic animals.

    The claimants also alleged that their food and cash crops such as yam, cassava, maize, palm kernel, plantain, banana, paw-paw worth about N500 million were either destroyed or harvested, eaten and/or taken away by the defendants during an occupation of the land.

    In the suit before Justice Solanke, the claimants are also demanding N17million being the estimated value of properties seized, destroyed and or damaged following the defendants’ alleged invasion.

    Through their lawyer Nojim Tairu, the claimants are praying the court to hold that a judgment in a case numbered HCT/8A/2001 relating to Aakasun Ilase Village, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal, Ibadan and the Supreme Court, does not relate to them, nor were they parties to the suit as to be bound by the verdicts.

    The claimants want the court to hold that their community’s invasion, seizure/destruction of their properties between August 18, 2010 and May 11, 2011 pursuant to defendant’s purported execution of judgments in MT/25/2011, HCT/8A/2001, CA/1/219/2002 and SC/129/2005 through a warrant of possession dated July 12, 2011, is unlawful, null and void.

    The first to sixth defendants, who represent the Asade Family (also known as Oniboto Family of Ado-Odo), through their lawyer, Ayodele A. Omoniyi, said the claimants have no common root of title with distinct holdings, adding there is nothing known as Akasun community land.

    “The claimants are tenants on the land at Akasun and derived title from the different individuals they have individually mentioned in individual affidavits sworn to on 20th January, 2012, upon which reliance is hereby placed,” the defendants said.

    The court, on April 11, renewed its order made on November 5, 2013, that parties maintain status quo pending the suit’s determination.

    The case has been adjourned till June 9.

     

  • Police petitioned over land dispute

    Police petitioned over land dispute

    The police have been asked to intervene in a land dispute in Richard Estate at Sapati on the Lekki-Epe Expressway in Lagos.

    In a petition, a landlord, Mr Steve Ajose, is accusing a businessman of encroaching on his land.

    Ajose alleged that the businessman converted the 20 acres of land he sold to him in 1999 to 22 acres.

    The conversion, he claimed, was done in 2005 without the owners’ consent.

    Ajose, in the petition sent to the Area J Police Commander by his lawyer, Mr Dotun Adewole, said when his client confronted the businessman, he pleaded for understanding.

    But Ajose, he said, rejected his plea, adding that his client sheathe his sword following the intervention of a former police chief and some elders of the community.

    Things were said to have got to a head when, at the businessman’s instance, some miscreants destroyed the fence demarcating his land from others.

    The petitioner alleged that the businessman is now ‘’forcefully acquiring’’ land in the area and harassing those who challenged him.

    Adewole implored the police to call the businessman to order to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

     

  • Land dispute: War looms in Obio/Akpor communities

    There are indications of imminent battle in communities in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area  of Rivers State, if the state government does not intervene urgently.

    This follows a protracted land dispute between the indigenes of Eli-Kpokwu-Odu community of Rumukpokwu clan and Eli- Weligbe community in Rumuagholu clan.

    The parcel of land known as Omuodudoro-Ali–Nweli-bo is  at the communities’ boundary and is stretched towards  Rumuosi, Rumuekini and Rumuodamanya clans, all in same local government.

    They are contesting the rightful ownership of the land.  According to the communities, the problem has lasted for more than 15 years.

    The land, according to the parties, spans over 500, 000 acres and both parties have its own side of the story on how the land became theirs.

    No life has so far been lost in the  skirmishes, but a tractor belonging to an indigene of Eli-Kpokwu-Odu was burnt down on the land by youths. There is fear of reprisal attacks if the state government and security agencies do not intervene speedily.

    Eli-kpokwu-odu community claims that it is their ancestral inheritance, while co-contender, Rumuagholu says they won it following a Supreme Court verdict.

    The confusion has led to serious racketeering on the land by members of the both communities. Each party is busy selling out the portion of the land especially the area close to their community, despite subsisting court order.

    The immediate past chairman of Eli-Kpokwu-Odu Community Development Committee (CDC), Kelvin Samuel, in a telephone interview with The Nation claimed that his community is the rightful owners of the land.

    He said his community had at a time mortgaged a portion of the land to the Rumuagholu for a sum which according to him has long been repaid to them.

    Samuel noted that his community had never had any form of dispute on the property until 2002 their contender (Rumuagholu), showed up with a suit against my community, the matter has since then lingered within and out of court.

    According to him, the judgment delivered by 8-man Peace and Arbitration Committee jointly set up by the warring communities after several years of being in court were rejected by Rumuagholu people, who took the matter back to court.

    He alleged that the court placed a ban on the land pending the determination of the case, but he noted that despite the ban, their rival community have continued to sale of the land.

    He claimed that over 4000 acres of the land have been sold by their co-contender, while his Eli-Kpokwu-Odu people have complied with the order 100 per cent.

    The CDC chairman of Rumuagholu community, Omunakwe Amadi, accused the Eli-Kpokwu-Odu people of trespassing and selling portions of the land despite a subsisting court order on the property, he called for the intervention of the state authorities.

    Samuel said: “The land in dispute is rightly owned by Eli-kpokwu-Odu community in Rumukpokwu clan. We have been farming on that land before the trouble started 15 years ago. “It all started when in 2002 Rumuagholu filed a suit against us over the parcel of land, claiming that we are encroaching over their land.

    “Before then my community had not had any form of problem with Rumuagholu regarding the portion of land, but they had with Rumuodumanya community which also shares boundary with us on that land.

    “Because my community mortgaged a part of the land known as Okporo Eli-Kpokwu-Odu to Rumuagholu, we provided the plan which helped them (Rumuagholu community), won the case against Rumuodumanya community at the Supreme court in 1961.

    “Judgment of the Paramount Ruler of Rumuigbo clan, HRH Eze Wobo who led Arbitration Committee was not accepted, whereas the judgment favoured the both parties.” he stated.

    But Amadi said the people of Rumuagholu got the property after a Supreme Court judgment they got against their neighbouring Rumuodamanya community on the parcel of land.

    He insisted that  Eli-kpokwu-Odu people have nothing to do with the land and warned that they stop further laying of claims or encroaching  the land in the interest of peaceful co-existence and called for the intervention of the state government and security agencies to avoid breakdown of Law and order in the area.

    Amadi said: “There is fear in the two communities because of the land. The people of Eli-Kpokwu-Odu have been threatening, harassing and intimidating us (Rumuahgolu people), innocent civilians with armed security men to scare us out of our land.

    “The land rightfully belongs to us, but Eli-kpokwu-Odu people in the bid to create crisis jettisoned, overlooked the 1961 Supreme Court judgment which affirmed us the rightful owners of the property have continued to tresspass and sell portions of the land to whosoever they like.

    “I am calling on the Rivers State government, to as a matter of urgency, intervene in the matter before it gets out of hand. And I would also like to at this juncture call on members of the public, groups and organisations to stop buying any part of the land from Eli-Kpokwu-Odu community, because the dispute over the land is yet to be resolved.”

    There is fear that Eli-Kpokwu-Odu community youths may seek revenge of the burnt tractor.

  • Tension in community over land

    Tension in community over land

    THERE’s tension in the sleepy Okolomi community in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State. The traditional ruler and members of the community are quarrelling over the sale of land.

    The dispute has been festering for eight years. It all started in 2007 when some politicians and Oba Tajudeen Elemoro were said to have teamed up to acquire on the land.

    The plots are Okolomi Olomi land owned by Okunelekun of Olomiland, Imolete land owned by Idogo family, Otunla community land owned by Otunla family, Adeba family land at Onikola, Lakuwe community land owned by Ojonu family and Itapapa community land owned by Anifowose family.

    A property consultant and the Chairman/CEO of Otofem Property Limited, Prince Femi Bakare, claimed that the crisis started when a former Permanent Secretary in the Bureau of Lands and some politicians showed interest in the land. They were said to have approached the owner-families, requesting them to present parameters surface documents for the gazetting of the land.

    The community, Bakare said, thought the government officials meant well but when they returned weeks later, it was found that the documents they brought for signing had slashed 80 per cent of the land, leaving the owners with 20 per cent. The officials claimed that the government had acquired the 80 per cent.

    The families refused to sign the documents, stressing that it is strange that the government did not talk with them before reaching such a decision. But undeterred, the former permanent secretary and his agents allegedly got some customary tenants to sign the documents to legitimise the acquisition of the land.

    Worried by the turn of events, the community stormed the Alausa, Ikeja office of the Ministry of Lands where the government said it has not acquired the land.

    At a meeting, former Governor Babatunde Fashola reportedly said there was no plan by the government to take over the land. He advised them to demand from those making such claims, memorandum of understanding, letter of acquisition and compensation.

    Following this development, the monarch was said to have lodged a report at the Elemoro Police Station, alleging threat to his life and those he sold land to. Bakare was arrested over the matter and asked to sign an undertaking that he would not interfere in the land matter again, but he refused.

    This led to his detention at Elemoro Police Station. He was released at the instance of a senior police officer at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

    Bakare was rearrested following a petition to Zone 2 Command at Onikan, Lagos, alleging that he is an armed robber. He was detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) at Panti, Yaba, for days. He was released after the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP’s) advice that it was a civil case that should be handled by the court.

    The thugs were said to have been consequently unleashed on the community. The thugs shot Rasheed Adeniyi.

    The thugs were said to have attacked members of the community in the presence of the police. The community is calling on the local, state and Federal Government.

    “I am now being haunted for not selling my conscience. They even tell me that I am the stumbling block to the bid to deprive the rightful owners of their land, Bakare said.

    Oba Elemoro said on Monday that “land grabbers” are threatening him and members of the community, including those who bought land from him. He did not speak on demolition of a N200 million edifice under construction in the area.

     

  • Ogba Zoo cries out over land grabbing

    The management of Ogba Zoo, Edo State has cried out over the pillaging of the zoo’s land by land grabbers. the management  has, therefore,  called on the state government to take decisive action in stopping the land poachers from further decimating this natural heritage, which over the years has suffered series of damage to its fortunes.

    Following the latest incursions on the zoo by the desperate land grabbers, the management in an open letter to the governor of the State, titled: Further horrific destruction of Ogba Zoo infrastructure / nature park: Another open letter to the Comrade Governor, chronicles the ongoing plight of the zoo, which are symptomatic of anarchy. It reminded the governor of the recent decisions taken by Government to secure the Zoo but which have not been implemented. While frantically calling on the governor to immediately deploy state apparatus to restore order in respect of saving this priceless asset, the Zoo management also called for the setting up of a panel of enquiry as the last ditch effort to unravelling what appear to be conspiracies to share the Zoo land.

    Fingered in these land poaching acts are members of the zoo’s neighbouring communities from Utagban and Ogbaneki, who are believed to be aided and abetted by some officials of the State government and members of the State House of Assembly. In this recent incursion, the land poachers deployed arson that destroyed over 70% of the zoo’s natural wildlife habitats, before the use of bulldozers, which has now turned the once forested land into a construction site for different private structures.

    With the administration of Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole on its last lap, the zoo management is making frantic appeal to it to rise up to the challenge of stemming this encroachment crises in order to leave a good conservation and tourism legacy. The Governor’s urgent intervention is required since he is already abreast of the issues at stake and in order for him to ‘finish well’ his tour of duty as Governor of the state.

     

     

     

  • Lagos mulls e-transaction for land, properties, others

    Lagos mulls e-transaction for land, properties, others

    •Access Bank lends support to empower entrepreneurs

    The Lagos State government is close to introducing e-transactions for all land and property  related matters, its governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has said.

    Ambode, who spoke yesterday in Lagos at the Second Access Bank’s Annual Leadership Conference, tagged: “Leadership In A Transformation World- The Imperative of Innovation”,  said the government  has  created the Office of Transformation and Creativity in order to change the way “we do business in the state”, stating that within a very short time from now, those who wish to conduct transactions in the state in respect of  lands and properties, among others, would be able to do so, using e-facilities

    In addition, Ambode  said the state would introduce  an initiative to identify young entrepreneurs for the purpose of supporting their businesses.  “My  administration is to establish a viable platform, which would identify young entrepreneurs for the purpose of supporting and promoting their entrepreneurship within the state,” he said, adding that former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, have consented to sponsoring the initiative.

    The Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, while giving his welcome address, said the lender has also lent  its support for the initiative.

    Ambode, whose pronouncement was applauded, also stressed the need for innovation via the introduction of Information Technology (IT) towards championing the development of the various sectors of the economy.

    He said: “It is no longer in doubt that Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) hold the key to realising our full potentials for growth and development. The history of the Asian Tigers is well known. It is also a fact that while most big business corporations started as Small Medium Enterprises, developing economies still pay special attention to the survival of SMEs in various sectors of their economies.

    He said the challenge of any government is to create an enabling environment that would enable the entrepreneurial spirit to thrive.  “Indeed, we live in interesting times. We live in an era where our ability to influence the society depends very much on how we are able to bring innovative ideas to bear on our responsibilities.

  • Chattel offers weekly land payment

    As Nigeria’s housing deficit up to 17 million? There are fears that this figure, which has been bandied about for years may not be true. Ascertaining the actual figure will require empirical checks or survey, say experts.

    Towards this end, an estate firm, Chattel Reality and Investment Company, has introduced a land scheme to eradicate land ownership problems in Lagos State.

    The scheme, on a site and service basis, with access roads, drainage, recreation centre and so on, would see more Nigerians owning land with ease under the payment model. It will avail the public the opportunity to pay N2, 500 for land purchased weekly if they so desire. One of the schemes with which the firm intends to achieve its plan is the Palms Villa Estate in Ibeju-Lekki and Ikorodu.

    Aside the 10 per cent discount offer on all land payment plans, the company is spreading payment options for purchased land up to four years. This, it says, is to give all low income earners an opportunity to be landlords in Lagos. For instance, to own a plot of land at Chattel Reality’s Palms Villa Estate in Ikorodu, an intending buyer can pay as low as N22,000 or N83,000 monthly for land in the Palms Villa Estate in Ibeju Lekki.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Ifeanyi Okafor, explained that such initiative is one of the company’s strategies to get more Nigerians to invest in properties and own their own houses. “We must as a matter of urgency always look for incentives to encourage people to own their homes. Things are pretty difficult at the moment and many people might not be able to afford a huge sum of money to purchase a land not to talk of building a house. So for us, we are more interested in empowering people and helping them to achieve their dreams of becoming a landlord,” he explained.

    Okafor further disclosed that its site and service is a strategic plan and that in three years, the company would begin housing development. In five years, he said his firm would have provided 20, 000 Nigerians with opportunity to own their property.

    Chattel Realty and Investment Company Limited is an innovative real estate development company that engages in the development of master-planned housing estates. The company’s objective is to provide cutting-edge real estate solutions to the huge Nigerian real estate market, which yearns for affordable housing as well as other real estate investment products.

  • Family sues ex-minister over land

    Family sues ex-minister over land

    The former Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Captain Caleb Olukolade has been sued before an Abuja High Court by the Oladapo family in Ondo town over the ownership of a landed property.

    The property which is the subject of litigation is situated in Plot 321, Zone A7 Wuse 11, Abuja.

    Other  defendant in the matter is Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and Federal Capital Development Authority.

    The plaintiffs are praying the court that the purported  revocation/withdrawal of the plaintiffs right of occupancy in respect of the land was unconstitutional and illegal, hence is null, void and of no effect.

    They asked the court  for an  order mandating Olukolade to vacate all the structure on the  land and granting possession of the land and a perpetual injunction directing the defendants, their agents, servants and privies from entering and further trespassing or disturbing the plaintiff from  peaceful possession of the land in dispute.

    The plaintiffs also demanded for N150m, being damages for unlawful transfer/allocation of the  landed property in dispute and N100m for trespass, forcible entry and unlawful  occupation and use of the plaintiff’s land.

    According to them, the former Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory used government machinery to harass and  chase away contractors engaged by them and ever since dinied them access to the land.

    The defendants in their statement of claim averred that the land in dispute was allocated to their  late father during his life as a member of House of Representatives in the First Republic and was  given a certificate of Right of Occupancy with reference number FCDA/ES/80/OD-13 along with schedule of Right of Occupancy Rent indicating the rent to be paid.

    According to them, the deceased commissioned a registers surveyor, Geodata Limited which  produced a survey plan with number -FCT/ABU/OD.130 with full Beacon number – FCTA7PB1614, dated April 7, 1992.

    The defendant is his reply argued that the land was allocated to him sometimes in 1997 and  commenced all the necessary documentation of the land sometimes in May 1998, adding that he  did not meet anybody on the land as at 1998 when it was lawfully allocated to him.

    The defendant contended that the plaintiffs plan allegedly was an afterthought and a document  prepared in contemplation of the suit saying that the deceased and the plaintiffs were the rightful  owners or in possession of the property.

    He averred that the plaintiffs did not make physical inspection of the land, saying that they would have known and had knowledge of the first defendant’s legal ownership and possession of the land since 1998.

     

  • Chattel offers weekly land payment

    as Nigeria’s housing deficit up to 17 million? There are fears that this figure, which has been bandied about for years may not be true. Ascertaining the actual figure will require empirical checks or survey, say experts.

    Towards this end, an estate firm, Chattel Reality and Investment Company, has introduced a land scheme to eradicate land ownership problems in Lagos State.

    The scheme, on a site and service basis, with access roads, drainage, recreation centre and so on, would see more Nigerians owning land with ease under the payment model. It will avail the public the opportunity to pay N2, 500 for land purchased weekly if they so desire. One of the schemes with which the firm intends to achieve its plan is the Palms Villa Estate in Ibeju Lekki and Ikorodu.

    Aside from the 10 per cent discount offer on all land payment plans, the company is spreading payment options for purchased land up to four years. This, it says, is to give all low income earners an opportunity to be landlords in Lagos. For instance, to own a plot of land at Chattel Reality’s Palms Villa Estate in Ikorodu, an intending buyer can pay as low as N22,000 or N83,000 monthly for land in the Palms Villa Estate in Ibeju Lekki.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Ifeanyi Okafor, explained that such initiative is one of the company’s strategies to get more Nigerians to invest in properties and own their own houses. “We must as a matter of urgency always look for incentives to encourage people to own their homes. Things are pretty difficult at the moment and many people might not be able to afford a huge sum of money to purchase a land not to talk of building a house. So for us, we are more interested in empowering people and helping them to achieve their dreams of becoming a landlord,” he explained.

    Okafor further disclosed that its site and service is a strategic plan and that in three years, the company would begin housing development. In five years, he said, his firm would have provided 20, 000 Nigerians with opportunity to own their property.

    Chattel Realty and Investment Company Limited is an innovative real estate development company that engages in the development of master-planned housing estates. The company’s objective is to provide cutting-edge real estate solutions to the huge Nigerian real estate market, which yearns for affordable housing as well as other real estate investment products.