Seizure of 130 houses sparks protest in Lagos

One hundred and thirty home owners in Ilamoshe community in Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos State, on Tuesday protested against what they said was the illegal seizure of 130 houses in the community at the office of the state Attorney-General in the state government Secretariat, Alausa.

The protesters, who arrived at the secretariat around 11am with placards, demanded the immediate intervention of the government.

Some of the placards read, ‘Ilamoshe under siege;’ ‘our house are under lock and key;’ ‘Save our soul;’ ‘Save us;’ and ‘I am 87 years old, I can’t sleep under the bridge;’ among others.

The Chairman of the Ilamoshe Community Development Association, Mr. Val Iwuchukwu, told journalists that the residents had been locked out of their houses since August 5 by hoodlums.

He explained that the residents were first served with quit notices for illegally occupying the land which the notice said did not belong to them.

Iwuchukwu explained that the residents had purchased about 150 plots of land from one Odubada family about 30 years ago before another family, Samuel Ojo family, started laying claim to the land after a court judgment.

The residents said their investigation revealed that the Ojo family, which sent the quit notice, had won a land case against the Odubada family both at the High and Appeal Courts over the land in question.

They said they had inaugurated a committee to have dialogue with the family through their counsel, Cornelius Odunsi, but their efforts failed.

“That is why we have come to the governor to intervene. There are over 100 thugs now in the community that are tormenting our children. There are over 130 families that have been unjustly ejected from their homes by the hoodlums,” he said.

Chairman of the Council, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan, who led the residents, said the protest was aimed at seeking the intervention of the state government to compel the plaintiff to enable the residents to have access to their homes.

He said in executing the court judgment, the family exceeded the stipulated boundary, thus harassing the residents who had nothing to do with the judgment.

“We are demanding the immediate unlocking of all the gates of houses that have been locked for the past one week. We are demanding that the Ojo family be brought to roundtable so that we can engage them,” Bamigbetan said.

“We insist that the Ojo family has to respect the rights of the residents to collectively engage them in bargaining for the best way out of the matter. These residents are also insisting that many of them are not affected by the court verdict, they are requesting that the plaintiff in this case should be transparent enough to present the exact boundaries and exact configuration of the territory they are talking about, so that we can identify the number of properties within this territory and then we know those who are actually affected and who are not.”

The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Justice Sector Reforms, Mr. Lanre Akinsola who spoke with the residents, said the Commissioner, Mr. Ade Ipaye, had received the petition on the matter and had since set up a committee to resolve it.

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