Residents of Oyetubo Oyemade Royal Family Land have lamented the return of suspected land grabbers to their property at Sangotedo, in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.
PUNCH Metro learnt that the property is covered by Certificate of Occupancy number 75/75/1996AE and Survey Plan no: LS/D/LA840.
The residents claimed that the hoodlums in November 2017 connived with some government officials, invaded the property and destroyed structures estimated at billions of naira.
Their lawyer, Olanrewaju Aiyedun, in a petition to the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, and Commander, Area J Police Command, Elemoro, dated December 31, 2021, said he wrote letters to the Lagos State Government on the destruction, as developers and property owners affected by the incident also filed suits against the suspects.
Aiyedun said in the petition that he also filed an application for interlocutory injunction before the court, which was granted on May 31, 2018.
“However, in flagrant disobedience to the order of the court, the aforementioned individuals led by one Engineer Omotosho and his cohort on a case still pending at the court presently before Justice A.J Bashua sitting at the High Court, invaded our client’s property in a bellicose military-style operation with a group of hemp-smoking fully armed hoodlums with charms and sophisticated weapons to unleash violence to members of the community. They further destroyed our client’s property and disrupted the peace of the neighbourhood. This is criminal, unlawful and actionable,” he added.
Aiyedun said after the petition, one of the suspected hoodlums, Fatai Animashaun, was arrested and arraigned before the Igbosere Magistrate’s Court on February 7, 2022.
Animashaun, in charge number 5/08/2022, was arraigned for malicious damage, contempt of court and conduct likely to cause breach of public peace.
He pleaded not guilty to the three counts and was admitted to bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties in like sum.
The magistrate, K.K. Awoyinka, adjourned the matter till February 22, 2022.
Aiyedun said the Federal Special Weapons and Tactics Team Office under the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Operations, Abuja, later invited some of the parties for an interview.
“It was after the arrest and arraignment based on our petition that they returned to the land despite the pending interlocutory injunction and the police interview scheduled for Tuesday at Abuja,” Ayedun added.
Our correspondent contacted Omotosho over the allegation of returning to the land, but he denied knowledge of it.
He said, “I don’t know anything about the whole thing and they should leave my name out of all these things.”
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