Distraught members of Isadare and Olakotan family of Ijumo Compound, Idedo village, Ota, Ogun State, have urged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, and the state’s Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, to save them from frequent attacks on their ancestral land.
A petition to the police chiefs signed by their solicitors, Remi Adeoye of Destiny and Lawlords Chambers, explained that four members of the family were attacked on January 13, 2020, by persons suspected to be working for one Alhaji Mohammed Yaya Alayande, who is contesting the ownership of the land with the family. The petitioners said the victims were brutalised and matcheted during the violent attack on them.
The petition reads: “The Isadare/Olakotan family, which obtained various judgments on the entire land located, situated, lying and being at Idedo Village, Via Onibuku, Ota, Ogun State in suit No: HCT/119/2003 delivered on the 27th June 2011 and Appeal NO.CA/I/322/2011 delivered on the 7th November 2014, alleged that the said Alayande who had been parading an invalid judgment documents had been persistently attacking their tenants on the sites of their land with dangerous weapons like guns, machetes, clubs, and knives, while reports to the Sango Police Area Command yielded no result, as no arrest was made.
“On Monday, January 13, Lukman Dabiri and Ayinla Adebowale who are brothers to High Chief Moroof Owonla, a land buyer from the Isadare and Olakotan family were said to have been attacked and macheted by some person identified as Monsuru; Akeem; Fatai; Yaya; Nurudeen.”
Alayande, however, denied attacking anyone on the land, noting that those who claimed to be victims were actually the ones who attacked innocent people they met within the vicinity of the property. He said there was a court judgment obtained in 1983 in favour of Adelupo family, which he belongs to, arguing that there was no pending appeal on the judgment.
“I am not a land grabber. I am the head of Adelupo family and my family has not trespassed on any landed property. We share common border with the Isadare and Olakotan families on the land in Idedo. However, the Isadare and Olakotan family encroached on my family’s land measuring about 200 acres, despite the 1983 judgment, which they did not appeal against.”
Meanwhile, spokesman of Ogun State police command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said two suspects have been arrested in connection with the matter. “It is a case of assault and two suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident. It is not the business of the police to determine ownership of disputed landed property, it is the court that will do that.
Therefore, the two suspects are currently being detained at the Ota Police Area Command for further investigations.’’
Credit: Guardian