Residents agonise over destruction of homes, property

…As new family moves to take possession of Lagos
community
By Lawrence Enyoghasu and Tosin Akinola
Tears could not stop flowing from the eyes of Bashiru
Amuwo as he gazed at what remained of his shop close to
Canoe Bus Stop, Oke-Afa Ilamoshe Estate area of Ejigbo
Lagos State. Everything he had in there was either looted
or destroyed.
Amuwo was one of those who lost property worth millions
of naira to hoodlums who went on the rampage recently in
the area. He said that his shop had goods worth about
N4million, but what was left inside it were just empty
cartons and bottles.
“I recently moved to this place, after paying a rent of
N12,000 per month. I was hoping that in three months I
would make twice that amount. But see me now; I have
lost everything. I was not around when the raid was
carried out, so I could not salvage anything. I have
practically lost my source of livelihood. Why should I be
the one to suffer the aftermath of the crisis,” Amuwo
lamented.
Amuwo alleged that the hoodlums who destroyed his shop
numbered over 1,000. They were accompanied by
policemen who came to implement a court order, he
recalled.
Daily Sun learnt that trouble began when the Abiodun Ojo
and Jokotade Bakare families won a protracted 21-year-
old land case against the Adejumos in 2011, after which
they quickly moved to effect possession of the land by
giving its occupants notice to come forward and negotiate
with them.
It was further gathered that for more than four years after
the case was determined at the appellate court on
Tuesday January 25, 2011, the Ojos had tried to negotiate
with the occupants of the houses on the land for a
possible repurchase.
Mr. Gbenga Olokobi, Chairman of Ilamose Community
Development Association (CDA), admitted that the Ojos
once came to the area in 2012 to possess the said
property and even pasted notices to that effect. “There
was a time they came around to let people know that they
had won their case against our former owners,” he said.
He recalled that the Ojos were demanding some amount of
money from the occupants, noting that the money was
huge. They wanted the occupants to pay the money in
order for them to be allowed continued stay on the land. It
was learnt that at some point, the CDA was contacted and
briefed on the matter. He noted that association called for
caution, preferring to wait to see if there would be any
development before jumping into asking the occupants of
the land to pay the Ojos the sum they were demanding. He
explained why it became necessary to do that. “Once
bitten, twice shy. We were trying not to make same
mistake twice since the occupants apparently bought the
present land they were occupying from the wrong
owners.”
An occupant of the land, Alhaji Bashir, who is also a
member of the Adejumo family that lost the land tussle,
admitted that the Ojos had always been peaceful and law
abiding. “We agree that all the occupants bought the land
from the same family like we did. And so to whosoever
owns the land, we shall pay. We are for peace.”
Adejumo also stated that there was a delay in agreeing
with the Ojos because there was need to identify the
original area of land that was in court.
After waiting for four years to negotiate with the
occupants, the Ojos decided to exercise the said legal
rights granted them by the High Court of Lagos State. In
its ruling on the case ID/1752/89, the court had affirmed
that the family was the rightful owner of the land in dispute
and therefore had powers to do whatever they wished on
it.
The judgment reads in part: “It is clear to me that the
judgment creditors being adjudged owners of the land
also own the structures on it and are at liberty to deal with
the land and the structures thereon as they please, And
also that it is hereby ordered that the appeal on the
judgment of this court having been determined, the
judgment creditors are at liberty to fully exercise their right
of ownership on the land adjudged to them.”
It was on this basis that, that last week, the winning family
moved to exercise their right of possession and in the
process, allegedly caused untold hardship to the
occupants of the houses and structures on the land. It was
not only Amuwo’s shop that was destroyed; a popular
recreation centre in the area was also demolished. Others
include Green Dale School located on Adejumo Street;
Redeemed Christian Church of God parish and a shopping
mall on Alade Apatira Street; Gold Medal School and Grace
Events on Kudirat Adenekan Street and Slon Pharmacy
Stores.
Other personal belongings like cars and shops were also
looted, it was learnt.
However, days after all hell was let loose, relative calm
seems to have returned to the troubled area after a truce
was brokered by the Police Division in Ejigbo between the
judgment creditor, Alhaji Akeem Oshuolale and occupants
of the houses and structures on the land.
The said truce, which would last for a week, was to allow
the property owners verify their land and title documents
with the office of the Surveyor-General at the state
secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.
Part of the resolutions reached at the meeting, which was
convened by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ejigbo
Division, Mr. Segun Titiladun Ayo, (a Superintendent of
Police), in his office, was the setting up of a committee
comprising leaders of the six Community Development
Associations (CDAs) at Ilamoshe and counsel to the
judgment creditor, Patrick Arasanmi. The committee would
work out modalities for arriving at a ratification/settlement
arrangement.
The DPO, while explaining his interest in the matter, said
peace was paramount. After reading some sections of the
judgment delivered by the Appeal Court on the disputed
land he said: “There is nothing the police can do to prevent
the judgment creditor from exercising his right. I have
spoken to the judgment creditor and he has agreed to be
magnanimous in victory. He is ready to abate his intention
to fully exercise his right by repossessing the land because
he is aware many of you innocently bought the land from
whom you thought were the rightful owners, but it is now
up to all affected landlords to also meet him halfway for
any settlement.”
One of the knotty issues that were raised at the meeting
was that some property owners alleged that some houses
marked or destroyed were not part of those cited in the
court ruling. They claimed that in the judgment given by
the court, only nine streets were listed, while the judgment
creditor was insisting it was the surveyed area that was
the subject of litigation, which was not delineated by
streets.
To resolve the logjam, affected parties were advised to
approach the Office of the Surveyor-General to verify if
their land survey was captured in the Survey Plan
CD/778/77, which the court had ruled on.
The lawmaker representing Oshodi/Isolo II Constituency,
Jude Emeka Idimogu, who moderated the peace parley,
said everything was being done to restore peace to the
community. “We are here because we want a peaceful
resolution to this crisis. We are not here to entertain any
further arguments on who is right or wrong because this is
not a law court.
“We are glad now that the judgment creditor has agreed to
give the issue a human face and a committee has been set
up to liaise on an amicable settlement. The judgment
creditor has agreed to stay action for some time for people
to verify if they were affected by the court ruling or not. We
would meet again to resolve the findings of the
committee,” he said.