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.