Some residents of Igbanko in Olorunda Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Badagry, Lagos, have appealed to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to intervene over alleged invasion of their landed property by land grabbers.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Igbanko that residents of the town could no longer sleep with their two eyes closed, due to activities of the land grabbers in their town.
Mr Samuel Olugbayi, a landlord in Igbanko, said the residents woke up on Monday morning and discovered that soldiers and land grabbers had surrounded their land.
He alleged that the land grabbers were some people from Iworo community.
“To be candid, we have land dispute with three families in Iworo community, they are the Itake, Kasagbemi and Idelemo families, and currently, the case is in court.
“But we are surprised that the traditional ruler of Iworo, Oba Oladele Kosoko, the Oniworo of Iworo, has sent soldiers and land grabbers to take over our land.
“I want to assume that this is just a misuse of power. We have our own traditional ruler and I see no reason why another Oba from another entity, another enclave will come and invade us in this modern times,” he said.
Olugbayi urged the state government to intervene and resolve the crisis before it resulted to violence between the two towns.
“We know that Gov. Sanwo-Olu administration is a responsible and responsive government, and we want the governor to intervene and correct the abnormalities,” he said.
Mr Olufunmi Adeyemi, a 68-year-old resident of Igbanko town, said the king of Iworo was claiming to own all lands in Igbanko.
“We are begging the governor to help us appeal to the traditional ruler to leave us alone, we have our own king here,” he said.
Mr Oluwabukola Amore, a youth leader in Igbanko, said the land dispute started about 12 years ago with the three Iworo families.
“But we are surprised that the traditional ruler had taken over the issue forcing us to leave our land,” he said.
When contacted, the traditional ruler of Iworo denied invading Igbanko town.
Kosoko said that he had a lot of things to do than to be claiming another town’s landed property.
“I don’t know why people are shouting my name over an issue I know nothing about. The case is in court, so why should I invade their land, infact I’m not aware of soldiers invading Igbanko land,” he said.
The traditional ruler said the dispute over land was between Igbanko people and three families in Iworo.
NAN reports that the king immediately summoned the mastermind of the land invasion, Mr Moses Ajose, to his palace.
Ajose said that his family was the owner of the land, adding that they had sold the disputed land to Lagos State University Cooperative since 2012.
He said that they took soldiers to the land to provide security for labourers who were helping them to cut the bushes.
“The people of Igbanko are trouble makers, they have sued us over our father’s land. Despite the fact that the land issue is in court, they have continued to sell the land and that’s why we sold the land.
“The King of Iworo is not aware of the invasion. He has no hand in this, infact they are just shouting his name, he is not among the family.
“The land in question belongs to our family, and we sold it since 2012, we will still go there tomorrow to cut the bushes,” Ajose said. (NAN)
