By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
A former second Vice President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Monday Onyeakachi Ubani, has lamented the rising cases of land grabbing and crimes associated with it.
In a statement, Ubani alleged that since Babajide Sanwo-Olu became thee governor of Lagos State, there had been a resurgence of the act, including thuggery.
He said that the former Lagos Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, took proactive measures to curb the menace of land grabbing and other crimes related to it.
“Through Land Grabbing Law he put them in check during his administration by effectively implementing the law thereby curtailing their menace. Presently, that is not the case in Lagos State.
“Last Monday (June 15), some notorious land grabbers with thugs and armed mobile policemen on illegal duty invaded my client’s property in Opebi, Ikeja Lagos State employing self-help to enforce a purported Supreme Court judgement delivered in 1995 that has no bearing to the land in question.
“My prompt petition to AIG zone 2 put them in check. They took the illegal invasion/ possession with no court sheriffs or officials, raising serious suspicion of its illegality.
“They have started to re-surveying and at the same time, putting borehole water on the site before they were repelled by arrest and undertaking to maintain status quo until the AIG looks into the matter to avoid breakdown of law and order.
“The story is that several lands which have been invaded in similar fashion are nearing completion by way of building as they have taken complete possession of the said lands and commenced development.
“The Supreme court judgement and Form “O” they are brandishing about have no bearing with the land in question.
“The Form “O” which is evidence that they have previously executed warrant of possession was specific about the address which the execution took place but as usual with these land grabbers they are re-writing the judgement of the court to extend to areas not mentioned at all by the said judgement.
“They are ready to compromise every government agency including the judiciary with so much money.
“The land grabbers work in concert with ‘investors’ who put down money in millions for them for the ‘fight’. They forge court documents, survey, including certificate of occupancies. Those forged documents are ensured to appear genuine through compromising the land registry, survey dept and the judiciary,” he said.
Ubani said he suspected that the surveyors he saw on the land after the invasion are people from the Lagos Department of Survey who are doing illegal jobs on their behalf.
“In my index case, I saw surveyors on the site when they invaded and i suspected those surveyors to be from the Survey Dept of Lagos State and they will be ready to backdate the survey for them. To what purpose I will not know or tell.
“I am amazed that the people that claim to be the owners of a property and further claimed to have a judgement of the supreme court will be surveying the land they own upon invasion. In other words, they do not know their land and size after the purported supreme court judgement? Who does that?
“The policemen in Lagos State are hereby put on notice to look through the lies and forgeries of these land grabbers and give justice to the genuine owners. Cases will be coming before them on likelihood of breach of public peace, forceful entry, criminal trespass and threat to life.
“My client has a certificate of occupancy over the property since 1989 and have been in physical occupation for the past 27 years with evidence of payment of utility bills yet these people are claiming that they are in possession through the invasion that took place just last Monday!
“Lagos State governor should be alerted of this resurgence of land grabbers and measures should be put in place to nip it in the bud timely as it constitutes a terrible smear on the reputation of the Centre of Excellence,” Ubani said.