Follow Us on Google
By Christopher Oji, Lagos
A businessman, Saheed Abdulahi( aka Ibile) has sent a save-our-souls to Inspector- General of Police ,Mr. Kayode Egbetokun over incessant police arrests and harassment.
Abdullahi has raised the alarm alleging that Lagos State Taskforce Chairman, CSP) Shola Jejeloye has been harassing him, his company and staff and has therefore, called on the IGP to wade into the matter and stop Jejeloye from further harassment.
The founder of Harmony Garden and Estate Development Limited, Ibile Auctioneers and Recovery Limited, alleged further that Jejeloye is working for a known notorious land grabber who had been sending assassins after him .
Ibile as he is fondly called has therefore, in a save-our-souls to the IGP ,said he has decided to come to his rescue as Jejeloye has allegedly mislead the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Idowu Owohunwa to believe whatever lies he told against him.
Earlier,Jejeloye ,had in a press statement, signed by Director, Press & Public Affairs Lagos StateTaskforce, Mr. Gbadeyan Abdulraheem,said that:”Taskforce apprehended a notorious Land grabber, Saheed Abdulahi, also known as Ibile, who operates in Ibeju-Lekki and Epe axis of the State after a series of complaints and petitions were written to police authorities by residents,communities and landowners.
“Speaking at the Headquarters of the Agency, Jejeloye,described Ibile as a repugnant entity not worthy of being in real estate business, talk more of evicting property owners unlawfully from their hard earned landed property.
“Ibile is well known for this type of criminal activity and he has been doing it for quite a while,but luck ran out on him on the 8th of July 2023, when he swooped in on a certain portion of land in Oke-Ogun area of Epe with some armed thugs in order to dislodge workers who were carrying out construction works on the land. He rounded up everyone present and dehumanized them by blindfolding them and stripping them naked just to cow them into fear and submission.”
But in a swift reaction to his arrest and allegation by Jejeloye, Ibile at a press conference yesterday, debunked the allegation and accused Jejeloye of alleged land grabbing,” all what he said in his press statement are to discredit my organization. He is a landgrabber in police uniform. He is working for a notorious land grabber, who has been sending assassins after me. The land grabber promised Jejeloye that if he is able to intimidate me to abandone the land , they will share the hectres of land. Jejeloye has done it before and got hectres of land from people he used his powers as a police officer and as the head of Lagos State Government agency to forcefully take from people. I want to say unequivocally that CSP Jejeloye is a land grabber in police uniform,who has been trying to hijack my investment,but it won’t happen.
“The land in question has a case pending in the Court, but the Taskforce Chairman and his officers have not only ignored a substantial Court order that requires all parties to maintain the status quo on the case, pending not only the transfer of the case file to the office of the DPP, but also until the suit is determined by any court of law in Nigeria.
“The Special Offences Mobile court in Lagos also ordered that the nominal complainant, as well as the Chairman of the Lagos State TaskForce, CSP Jejeloye or any officer(s) of the Task Force, should restrain from encroaching and continuing to erect any fence or anything on the subject matter of the suit.”
However, Ibile stated that Jejeloye did not obey the court order. He said the saga revolves around a contentious land dispute in the Eyin-Osa area of Lagos, where Ibile’s company, Harmony Garden and Estate Development Limited, has invested nearly N700 million Naira in a property.
The dispute initially began with the claim that the Lagos State governor instructed the task force to allow a land grabber, to take possession of the property.
Abdulahi’s attorney, Musa Sani, said, “my client also claimed that the police are accusing him of alleged terrorism, kidnapping, and land grabbing, while he only tried to defend himself against an assassin hired to force him to part with the properties he had invested in.
“The land in question is not government-acquired but government resettlement land. Despite Ibile’s legal possession and a court order maintaining the status quo, the task force allegedly supported the actions of the land grabber.
“My client has been arrested by CSP Jejeloye over untrue allegations and locked up, while he has written various petitions to the former DIG Johnson Kokumo, the Lagos State commissioner of police, and even his predecessor.
“Jejeloye is circulating falsehoods; much of what you see online is fabricated to tarnish my client’s brand ‘Harmony Garden’ and his reputation. I invite anyone with evidence of undocumented property payments to approach me or my client. The video on the social media has been manipulated.My client wasn’t arrested by Jejeloye; my client voluntarily met with the Commissioner of Police. I had already petitioned that out matter should be taken away from Jejeloye and given to a neutral person to carry out the investigation. They are demolishing my client’s properties without court orders, handing them to those involved in land grabbing.
“We are in court, and the judge ordered all parties to maintain the status quo. The assassination attempt on my client’s life in July was not followed by an arrest but the police claimed that one Adetola Nola had written a petition against him , while Jejeloye told my client’s to his face that it’s in his best interest to resolve the matter by negotiating with those who want to hijack his investment.
“The case is in both Lagos and Abuja. On October 10th, my client reported to the CP in Lagos, and community leaders provided information that contradicts the charges against him. 6A kangaroo court was set up, and charges were rejected by the Attorney General of the State . They are just duplicating the case files everywhere, and the matter of dehumanisation is also in court.”
However, Ibile maintained that Jejeloye was after his life, saying,“I am not accusing the entire police force, but rather, I allege that CSP Shola Jejeloye is a land grabber in police uniform,who manipulates his superiors and principals in Lagos State. It is true that nobody can manufacture evidence, but what will it take the DIG or the IGP to ask another officer to investigate whatever petition Jejeloye has so as to know that he is a manipulator, a land grabber who is using another land grabber to sell the proceeds of his land grabbing business.
“I am calling on the IGP to wade into the matter. Jejeloye wants to take people’s investment and sell with a land grabber. I have all the documents that the owners of the land used in selling them to me. He has approached me to settle with the popular land grabber or I would regret it,but I insisted that I won’t give any land to them. That is what I am suffering today. People have invested on the land,how will I give people’s land to Jejeloye and a land grabber. Please, the IGP should come in and stop a Jejeloye, a senior police officer, over the business of land grabbing. He is dragging me up and down to intimidate me to share my land with him and his land grabber friend. If IG should find out anything contrary to what I am saying,he should deal with me.”
