DAYO AYEYEMI, in this piece, presents stakeholders’ views on the land-grabbing crisis rocking many parts of Lagos and seeks answers to the worth of title deeds from government in the face of several court judgments returning land ownership to original owners.
It was Agidingbi land tussle in 2018 and Magodo in 2021. It is now the turn of Surulere and Isheri Oke as land grabbing activities escalated in the Lagos metropolis in the past three weeks, giving all stakeholders a great concern.
The latest concern is coming barely two weeks after the invasion of a section of Surulere by some individuals to enforce the execution of a court judgment on a sprawling land space of 131.568 acres around the Masha section of the neighbourhood.
While the dust is yet to settle on the Surulere crisis, another community in the state, Isheri Oke, was thrown into pandemonium last Tuesday over the same issue of court judgment execution, setting tongues wagging about what is really going on in the state. The question on the residents’ lips, particularly landlords and property owners is, where next?
The Isheri Oke invasion broke the relative peace in the state and security was further compromised as two factions of hoodlums clashed within the Isheri community of Ikosi/Isheri Local Council Development Area.
Landlords and residents of Isheri had woken up that morning to discover that their neighbourhood was under siege, battle-ready hoodlums, having stationed themselves in different spots within the community.
The hoodlums were ready to take on anyone who dared to oppose their bid to take possession of the entire land in the neighbourhood. What initially appeared like a joke became a frightening reality as the invaders, whose mission was to take possession of the parcel of land measuring 151.656 hectares in the community, moved into action, compelling another faction of hoodlums loyal to the other family laying claim to the said land to counter them and block the invaders from carrying out their mission.
The land space in contention, Saturday Tribune gathered, encompasses no fewer than 3,000 houses and provides accommodation to over one million residents in Isheri town.
As the residents were trying to figure out what the problem was, many houses, banks and business premises on the main road were sealed by the thugs, who claimed to be carrying out the judgment of an Appeal Court granted in favour of their principal on March 16, 2022.
Fightback
Realising they were under siege, the landlords and residents of Isheri Oke, on the other hand, reportedly mobilised some thugs who launched a counter-attack on the intruding hoodlums, leading to tension all over the community.
Cutlasses, knives, stones and sticks were freely used as weapons, as landlords, residents and schoolchildren ran helter-skelter.
“I saw Oro masquerades coming out in daytime instead of midnight as people ran for dear lives,” Ayo Abas, a commercial tricycle operator, popularly known as Keke, told Saturday Tribune.
He said it took the intervention of the police to restore normalcy in the community as some hoodlums launched an attack on the palace of the Oba-elect of Isheri Oke, Jamiu Odunsi, to express their disapproval of the execution of the court judgment in the community.
Findings by Saturday Tribune showed that it was a case of land grabbing.
The Secretary, Olofin Chieftaincy Family, Akintunde Kudoro, while detailing the circumstances surrounding the attack, said the invasion of the palace was initiated by people who were against the execution of the judgment which the Court of Appeal granted in favour of his family on March 16, 2022.
According to him, immediately they got the judgment, they made publications in newspapers and wrote letters to people notifying them of the judgment but none of them responded.
He said: “As a result of this, we decided to approach the court to do the execution and to collect our land and the court has to approve the order for the sheriff to go and execute and the sheriff went through the Commissioner of Police, who gave them the personnel who accompanied them for the execution.
“The bailiff and sheriff came from Ikeja to execute the judgment. They started around 7.00 a.m. and while we were holding a meeting at the palace, those who were against the execution led hoodlums to attack us around 10.00 a.m.
On the other hand, the Baale of Isheri, High Chief Wole Bankole, who is in his 90s, said the land in contention belonged to his father.
According to him, his people got information about the invasion the night before and landlords in the community hinted the Isheri Divisional Police Officer (DPO) about the development.
“They were told that the DPO had slept and they should come back the next day by 8.00 a.m.
“On getting to the police station around 7.30 a.m. on Tuesday, we saw the land grabbers already gathered in front of the police station. Since we were not there for them, we entered the police station to see the DPO. To our surprise, we were told that the DPO was still sleeping and that we should wait.
“Already, the hoodlums had commenced the marking of buildings and banks along the main road, trying to gain entrance into the community
“We quickly came out of the police station, while our youths had already barricaded the two major entrances to the community with benches, drums and chairs, making bonfires at the road’s junctions.
“It was when the police sensed the high tension that the DPO came out and urged the two sides to sheathe their swords. The police commander also came.”
Chief Bankole said the alleged land grabbers had besieged the community in 2020 but were stopped by the community’s youths.
He said the land in contention had always belonged to his father, explaining that nobody ever took him to court in the past and he never received any court notices.
Government sues for peace
The chairperson of Ikosi Iseri Local Council Development Area, Abolanle Bada, during a visit to the troubled community, urged all parties to sheathe their swords, disclosing that a meeting had been scheduled between the warring parties.
The local government boss said: “I have told the governor of Lagos State and his deputy already. They are aware of the incident. I have met with all the people involved. What I want now is for everybody to sheathe their swords.
“I know that the people of Isheri are lovers of peace. I know what the youths did during an attempt to burn the police station during #EndSARS. We will meet and find a peaceful resolution to the matter.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, while reacting to the crisis, stated that the police had restored normalcy in the town.
He said: “The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, CP Idowu Owohunwa, visited the place and met with the two parties. We have restored peace.”
He however said “the incident is a civil matter” and “whoever is not satisfied should go to court.”
Surulere land tussle
The Isheri takeover crisis was coming exactly one week when a section of buildings in Surulere was served with possession notices on the strength of a court judgment secured by the Onikate of Ikate, Surulere, Oba Lateef Atanda Adams, who is claiming ownership of the entire land.
This development caused panic among landlords and residents of Surulere, starting from Masha Roundabout and Adelabu Road, connecting other inner streets.
Oba Adams is laying claim to the entire land measuring 315.9 acres in the enclave, saying it belongs to his family.
No fewer than 300 buildings, within the land area were marked with the inscription ‘IKD/288/68 possession taken today 30/3/2923 by court’.
Oba Adams is calling current occupiers for settlement, pointing out that the entire land was acquired from his family/original land owners, by the government over 40 years ago without paying the required compensation as stipulated by the Land Use Act, 1978.
Besides, he says the present property owners did not recognise or buy the land directly from the family, hence the request that they must present their receipts or documents and enter new agreements with the family.
Oba Adams is relying on the judgment delivered by Justice Olusan Bada in Suit No 18/118/68 of the Lagos State High court on 10 November, 1975 between Kasali Idewu and ORS V Ayisatu Yaya ans ORS declaring land measuring 315.9 acres as captured by survey plan No: AGW/263 as belonging to the defendants/judgment creditors as affirmed by the ruling delivered by Hon. Justice M.A. Lawal sitting at the Ikeja Judicial Division of the High Court of Lagos State on 9 December, 2022.
He urged owners of the affected property to come with whatever documents they have to facilitate settlements.
“Let’s sit down and settle this thing before it gets out of hand. They should come to regularise with us. They cannot win in court. They should come now. We need their cooperation. Let the government call me so that we can have a roundtable,” Oba Adams said.
Recounting the manner in which the hoodlums besieged Surulere, one of the landlords, Tunde Oladeji, said the unknown individuals were accompanied by about 50 Mobile Police officers, pasting posters and marking buildings with the notice ‘Possession Taken’.
According to him, the situation caused jitters among most residents who are calling on the state government who they claimed allocated the land in the first place to come to their aid.
“Over 300 houses are affected in the area. These are houses date as far back as 1972/1973. All of these houses have been stamped with the notices. There is no copy of the court judgment. They are picketing houses at Masha axis with zinc and metal sheets,” he said.
Some other landlords also said they never saw copies of the court judgment.
Spokesperson of the Lagos State Development and Property Company (LSDPC), Mrs Yewande Cole, who took Saturday Tribune correspondent to the company’s legal department, said the agency was aware of the matter and urged the landlords and residents to remain calm.
“The management is on top of it. Landlords have been asked not to panic; nothing will happen to them,” the LSDPC spokesperson said.
Relying on Land Use Act 1978, the argument of Oba Adams was that government never acquired the entire land in Surulere and that compensation was never paid to the original land owners before the allocation to private developers.
Section 28 of the Land Use Act on Revocation of Right of Occupancy prescribes various grounds for which local, state or federal government can revoke the right of occupancy.
One of the grounds, according to Section 28(1), is for overriding public interest – for exclusive government use or for general public use.
Experts alarmed
Speaking with Saturday Tribune, Managing Director, Fame Oyster and Co., Mr Femi Oyedele, decried the situation, saying one main implication of the ugly trend is that the confidence the people have in the Lagos property market would be eroded.
He pointed out that the government was yet to provide solutions to Magodo land ownership tussle. “This is so because government is using absolute power to oppress the judgment creditors,” he reasoned.
The government’s attitude to some of the court cases, he said, meant that foreign investors in the property market would be wary of coming to Lagos, and Nigeria by extension.
“The summary of this is that we don’t have rule of law in Nigeria. Foreign property investors are not sentimental in investing if we don’t have rule of law,” Oyedele said, pointing out that less than three per cent of land in Nigeria has valid title unlike 95 per cent in Rwanda.
President, Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mr Olayemi Shonubi, slammed the recent happenings on land ownership in Lagos State, saying if the situation was allowed to fester, nobody would take the title or certificate of occupancy from the state government seriously again.
Talking about the Surulere land tussle, he said: “To me, people just want to take advantage of the system. They just want to make money from other source and there must be somebody behind it.
“Most of this land was developed during the Lagos State Executive Development Board. It was the Lagos State government that got the land in those days.
“They now turned around that government did not pay compensation and took the government to court.”
Shonubi expressed shock that the omo onile went to court and officials of the state government did not vigorously pursue the case.
He noted that when the judgment was given, the state government failed to appeal.
“Some people were born in these communities, some over 50 years ago and you want them to come back and renegotiate. Where is that done?” he said.
According to the NIQS president, the state government was expected to fight the case in court but did not.
He said: “Are you saying now that if I got title from the Lagos State government, I should not go and sleep?”
The implication of land grabbing, the president of NIQS said, would have far-reaching effects on property investment in Lagos.
“Anybody that got title from the state government should not go to bed, rather they should be on their toes,” he said
According to Shonubi, this has shown that any title from the state government is not reliable.
“This has far-reaching implications in the sense that if somebody has title from the Lagos State Government and goes to bank to seek loan, what this is saying is that they cannot rely on the title from the state government alone. The developer must ensure that the Lagos State government issues a guarantee.
“Any financial institution that wants to finance real estate project based on the Lagos State government’s title should tell the government to issue a guarantee, indemnify creditor or finance the future liability,” Shonubi said.
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