- Asked to re-purchase land or have their property demolished
By AYO ALONGE ( [email protected] )
People who acquired land and built homes in Itamope/Lucky Fibre area in Ikorodu, Lagos are now like the grass that bears the brunt of a fight between two elephants.
But the elephants are two rival families who got entangled in a court battle over true ownership of the land, which the home owners acquired and built their houses.
The two rival families – Oja and Rolu – had been in court for 13 years over lingering cases of unlawful encroachment and trespass.
The homeowners in the area acquired the land from the Oja family after proper payment, at a time when the land was not in dispute. Many years later the issue of ownership came following a suit instituted in court by the Rolu Family.
Eventually, the Rolu Family won the case and obtained a court order to take possession of the expanse of land. Acting on the said order, members of the family moved to enforce it with aid of the police.
Homeowners woke up in the morning of August 17 to behold the shocking sight of notices written on their walls with paint stating that the family had taken possession of the land on which they built their homes.
“We just woke that morning and saw the notices on our walls. The Rolu family members told us that we have to buy the land again. Some of us acquired the plots of land many years ago,” one of the affected homeowners, Jane Umeh, told Sunday Sun.
Investigations revealed that black legs in Oja family sold the land to the unfortunate homeowners some years ago. When the litigation broke out, the other part of the family teamed up with the Rolu family and gave evidence in court in their favour.
In 2009, the High Court in its verdict declared the Rolu Family to be rightful owners of the land in dispute. The Oja Family challenged the judgement at the Appeal Court in 2016 and lost again. Consequent on the Appeal Court judgement, the Rolu Family obtained a re-possession order from a High Court on August 17, 2017, and quickly moved to enforce it, thereby throwing the homeowners into shock, dilemma, and psychological agony wondering how to raise money to re-purchase the portions of land on which they built, at the current value.
Some residents told Sunday Sun that some buildings were locked up instantly and residents who displayed resistance were shut inside their homes.
The chairman of the community development association (CDA), who would not want his name in print, lamented over the situation.
“I have been here for 15 years and this is the first time this is happening. Many thugs were invited from another community, accompanied by fully armed policemen, just to take over our land without any due notice.
“They have been saying we should come and pay ratification. The Rolu family has issued us a particular amount to be paid. Some are to pay N2 million, some N1.5m and others N1 million,” he said.
“Then one morning they just came and started demolishing some fences,” said another who also requested not to be named.
Similarly, Goddy Bissam, a landlord who appeared worst hit by the invasion, as the Rolu family had started to build a town hall on his undeveloped plot said: “On Thursday, they just came in unnoticed and dumped a heap of sand on my plot without informing me. They came back same day and started making a foundation on my piece of land. Immediately, we approached the CDA chairman to report the case.”
A walk around the community showed several fences that were brought down although the Rolu family members denied that the demolition was done by them. At the Rolu family house, the head of the clan, Haruna Ola-Balogun, spoke with Sunday Sun.
“What we have is a court order to take possession of our land that was encroached on by a section of the Oja family. They are the “ajagungbale” (land grabbers) who forcefully encroached on our land. After they sold theirs, they descended on our own property.
“In 2009, we got a court order in our favour against the notorious sect of the Oja family. These people had encroached on our land after selling theirs and started selling ours. We won both at the High Court and at the Appeal Court. After the Appeal Court judgment, we called on the landlords to start paying for ratification. We appealed to them but they continued to show lackadaisical attitude, we had to go back to court to apply for a re-possession order which was granted to us by the court on Thursday, August 17 and that was how we fully took over our land,” Ola-Balogun said.
Debunking the allegation of demolition, he said: “It is not true that we are demolishing any building, although we have started construction works on some of the undeveloped plots. We took possession of our land according to the law.
“We obtained the judgement from the Appeal Court since last year and three months after, the defendants didn’t go to the Supreme Court, meaning that they cannot go again.
“As I speak to you, some of the landlords have been contacting us and we have been clearing them. But you know some others would always want to show that lackadaisical attitude.”