Lukman Olabiyi
Justice O.S. Adeyemi of the Oyo State High Court has granted an interlocutory order restraining the Ajingba family, their agents, heirs, successors, privies and assignees from the land popularly known as Aruka/Oguntade near Odo-Okun, Ibadan pending the determination of the suit they filed.
The family, represented by Sesan Bolaji Olooto, Kehinde Apampa, Lamidi Oyewole Ajingba and three others are the claimants in the suit number 1/258/19 pending before the court, while defendants in the suit are Ganiyu Aruka, Tajudeen Aruka, Joshua Oguntade and 16 others. The order of the court was sequel to an application filed by one of the defendants, Mr. Joshua Oguntade through his counsel, Mr. Oladapo Ogunwusi.
In the application which was filed on June 10, the applicant prayed the court for an interlocutory order to restrain the claimants pending the determination of the suit
In an affidavit in support of the application, the applicant averred that the claimants had continued to carry out various acts of aggression on the land like violently attacking residents, uprooting pillars, destroying buildings with the police refusing to take any action and illegally selling to unsuspecting members of the public, land that is still under litigation.
The applicant also accused the claimants of being land grabbers, taking the land forcefully.
Oguntade attached several exhibits to the application to proof that the application was worthy of emergency treatment and it had merit.
The claimant had initially approached the court for damages of N10,000,000 (ten million naira) for trespass and an injunction restraining the defendants for further trespass.
In the suit, the claimants in their statement of claim, averred that their ancestor migrated from Ipapo to Ibadan before settling at the site in dispute.