Residents protest activities of ‘land-grabbers’ in Lagos

Residents of Agidingbi area of Lagos have lamented what they described as an attempt by some suspected landgrabbers to take over their community from them.

The residents, who are currently calling for the intervention of the state government, on Thursday embarked on a peaceful protest to the state House of Assembly.

According to the residents who spoke to journalists during the protest, trouble began last Friday when they woke in the morning to see quit notice served them to vacate the community.

It was gathered that a family named Akinole-Oshiun said it has had a judgment from the Supreme Court which awarded ownership of 398 acres of landed property in the community to them as the traditional land-owning family.

The possession order is said to cover a large section of the Lateef Jakande Road, Acme Road, Fagba Close, and other streets around the area, totalling over 2000 buildings.

The protest which shut down the government secretariat was led by scores of community leaders of Agidingbi area of Ikeja.

The protesters called on the government for quick intervention to avert bloodshed as Akinole-Oshiun family, which is the judgment creditor in the case, had already given them seven days ultimatum to vacate their houses.

Among the display on the protesters are “There is no ancestral link between Akinole and Agidingbi Land, landgrabbers are enemies of Lagos State”.

The leader of Ojodu Legislative Arm, Hon Wasiu Bolaji-Seidu while speaking to newsmen said he was surprised with the development.

 “On Friday, they (judgment-creditor) brought judgment and placed it on our houses and said they have taken over the entire Agidingbi land. The issue is Agidingbi was not mentioned in the judgment; nobody from Agidingbi was part of the case and I don’t know how you will enforce a judgment against a person that was never part of the case. “Agidingbi has been in existence for over 200 years ago. I was born and bred in Agidingbi; my forefathers were born and bred in Agidingbi and I don’t see any reason why somebody will just wake up and say they are the owner of the community. “I am over 50 years; my father lived for over 90 years in this community before he died; my great grandfather died at the age of 150 years and I don’t know where Akinole is coming from and we have people like Habibatu Mogaji who was the Yeye-Oba of Agidingbi; we have Femi Okunnu who is our father in the community and we don’t know where Akin-ole came from.”

He, however, urged the State Government to intervene in order to prevent the case from turning into a crisis.

“To the best of my knowledge, I know that Lagos State has enacted a law duly signed by the Governor prohibiting land grabbing in the State because this is a clear example of such case. That is why we are here to call on the Lagos State House of Assembly to look into it and find a lasting solution, failure of which there will be bloodshed,” Bolaji-Seidu said.

 The Baale of Agidingbi, Chief Ganiyu Ayinde Haruna, in his narration explained that said “On Friday last week, we woke up to see people posting possession order on our property and we don’t know these people. We have been living here for several years and the issue is we don’t know this family that is laying claim to ownership of our land. “We have never heard any relationship with this Akinole family and so it is surprising to us. Nobody knew anything about the court case. I mean how can you enforce court judgment against a party that was never part of the case? We are peaceful people and we are urging the Lagos State Government especially Governor Akinwunmi Ambode and the House of Assembly to intervene urgently in this matter because we don’t want bloodshed in our community.”

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