By Christopher Oji
JOKOTADE family of, Ajah, Lagos, has sent a save-our-souls to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Lagos State Governor over alleged harrasment and illegal occupation of their land by the police .
The community, said the policemen, who occupied their land,claimed that they were their on the order of the State Government.
The family members and other residents who protested the alleged occupation of their land have, therefore ,called on President Tinubu to prevail on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to wade into the matter to unmask those who brought the policemen to the land .
The Jokotade family claimed that they had reported the illegal occupation of the land by the Lagos State Taskforce, but the government ended up denying sending any of its officials or policemen to the land .
The placard carrying protesters, with different inscriptions such as: Lagos State government should stop contempt of Court, Taskforce leave our land, stop terrorising us and allotees. Governor Sanwo-Olu uphold democracy value, Lagos State please let us breath, want Tinubu to intervene quickly.
The protesters ,said that they were surprised with the action of the policemen who occupied a land that is having a Court injuction that is compelling either the police or any official of the government from harrasing or intimidating them.
The family moreso, alleged that despite the Court injuction obtained by the claimant (the family), the defendant ,who they alleged to be hijackers are working against the Court order to forcefully take possession of the land.
The disputed land is situated at Monastery road, Ajah , “we are law abiding citizens, and we don’t want to take laws into our hands, that is why we are appealing to our president and Sanwo-Olu to help us and save us from the hands of the police”.
Mr. Saliu Tajudeen, one of the prominent members of the family, stated that about 11 hectares of their land had been hijacked by some group of people, who were hiding under the Lagos State Government to take over their land.
“Our family under the agesis of Oyetubo Jokotade Estate Management,which comprises of three families, have been managing our properties which is over 200 hectares of land, we decided to reserve 11 hectares; allotted some portions to some people, but to our surprise, some hijackers hiding under the state government took over our land claiming that they are acting on the instructions of the Governor.
“We took the matter to court and despite the court order that both parties should maintain status quo, they are still using the police to harass us up till this moment.
“We started allocating the land to the allotees and kept a portion for reserve for the family, after a while, the whole family decided to incorporate our land, because we are three families. The senior is Oyetubo, the second is Banjoko, and the last one is Okunade. We then used the abbreviation to form the company called Joko T’Ade Estate Management Resources.
“Although,Lagos State Government has denied its involvement in the land issue, but policemen from the state taskforce are still occupying our land .We believe that our amiable Governor, does not have a hand in our predicament, which is why we are calling on him to step into the matter and stop the hijackers from using the state taskforce to be harrassing us .
“We urged Gov. Sanwo-Olu to intervene so as to avoid breakdown of law and order in the area. Because we don’t want trouble, we are calling on him to intervene and stop the hijackers from their nefarious activities.
Also speaking on the matter, Chief Jamiu King Akinsemoye, urged the State Government look into the issue and let justice prevail,” there is existing court order restraining the police and the state Government from harrasing us, yet some faceless people who claimed to be from the government are busy demolishing structures in the land. We are abiding by the court order , but surprisingly, the people who claimed to be from Lagos State Government have hijacked,encroached on it and brought in policemen form the state taskforce. They are chasing, beating, and harrassing our family members,while some were arrested and detained. Each time our people come to inspect the land, they are beaten mercilessly . We would not allow them to take our inheritance from us, as we speak we dare not enter into the estate, we have be restricted from entering into our family land.
“Some of the allotees have gotten Lagos State consent , we want the state government to hands off from our property. Our president ,Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, Sanwo-Olu ,and other well meaning Nigerians should help us, we are the rightful owners of the land. The hijackers are using the police and Government offices to perpetrate crime.”
He added that, about 20 houses were demolished in the Estate, while others were marked and demarcated by the NTDA.”Fortunately, Lagos Government didn’t revork our licence, suddenly they just revorked 11 hectares of land from us without any reason. We want drastic action from the government against those tarnishing its image by taking people’s land without genuine reason.”
On his own , a legal practitioner, Tope Odeniran, noted that the defendants, despite the fact that the family had gotten an Injuction against the claimant, they are still working with Taskforce against the court order.
The defendants in the case are the Lagos State Governor, the State Attorney General ,and the permanent Secretary and Bureau of Land and survey”