Land Dispute Tears Ikorodu Community Apart

The existing peace in a community located in Ikorodu is seriously threatened over ownership of the vast land writes EROMOSELE EBHOMELE

Entering Agunfoye-Idiorogbo in Igbogbo Bayeku Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State, southwest Nigeria, is like the proverbial camel going through the eye of a needle. The only road leading to the area, home to three communities makes one think of a lion’s den.

The road leading to the area has been divided into two by an endlessly flowing water which destination could not be immediately ascertained, but residents of the area explained that the flowing water comes from a canal which had been blocked by some people who were acquiring properties in Igbogbo. To cushion the effect of this challenge, youths in the community built a wooden bridge and charge motorists and pedestrians a token to cross to the other side.

Now, the road is no longer their major challenge. The area has become a danger zone as the battle rages for ownership of the large expanse of land with over 500 buildings, by members of the same family.

According to one of the palace chiefs of the area, Chief Jelili Oduntan, the feuding families have turned residents of the area into refugees and squatters in a place they had long known as home.

The residents are now in perpetual fear as they are daily attacked and their women raped at will by thugs mobilised by one of the parties in the land dispute.

When P.M.NEWS visited the community with the members of an ad-hoc Committee instituted by the Lagos State House of Assembly to look into the issue, as many as 30 thugs were seen camped in the only primary school in the community.

The thugs, some armed with dangerous weapons, exuded pride. Some boasted before the delegation from the House that they would further unleash terror on the people once the committee members leave the place. One of the thugs made frantic efforts to inform some of his colleagues who were not there that the lawmakers had come with police officers.

With the confidence they oozed, the lawmakers should thanked their stars that they were escorted to the community by men of the state Rapid Respond Squad (RRS).

Chairman of the Committee and head of the delegation to the community, Rotimi Abiru, had to call the RRS office to mobilise more men to the community when tension became palpable.

One of the women, who preferred to be called Mama Bose, narrated the ordeal of the women in the community. According to her, many of them had been raped since the latest assault on them.

“Each evening now, no man or woman wants to be found inside his or her house because if you are a man, you would be beaten to unconsciousness. If you are a woman on the other hand, expect to be raped.

“These thugs do not even bother whether the woman just gave birth or not,” she told P.M.NEWS, adding that the thugs had turned the primary school into their permanent home.

“Once you leave now, we would all disappear to neighbouring communities because any of us caught is in soup,” she added.

The state House of Assembly had set up the Committee to look into the land issue after the residents stormed the Assembly complex to register their complaints. They told the House that the thugs had resorted to raping their wives and children. Several of the residents stayed back at the Assembly Complex due to fear, even after they had been addressed by the Speaker, Adeyemi Ikuforiji.

They told the lawmakers that they have constantly been assaulted by the hoodlums, who they believe were contracted by one Ishawu Kolawole Ogunlana, in a bid to forcefully take over the land.

They also claimed that whenever the thugs struck, valuables and even properties were destroyed. They leave many residents of the area with severe injuries and that several efforts to safeguard themselves had proved abortive as the land speculators, popularly called Omo Onile, always came with dangerous weapons.

“Whenever they come like that, we are left to our fate with parents running for dear life, abandoning children while husbands abandoned their wives. This gives them the opportunity to rape some of our women at will, and those who refuse to be raped are beaten to the extent that they would have to spend days at the hospital,” one of the residents, who gave his name simply as Ayo said.

They said the latest harassment took place on 26 March, 2012, when Ishawu Ogunlana, leading some armed thugs and a bulldozer, stormed the area and demolished 15 houses, injuring many people in the process.

The residents also presented a petition to the House and this was read the lawmakers by the Acting Clerk of the House, Segun Abiru. This made the House to direct the RRS as well as the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umaru Abubakar Manko, to deploy their men to the area with a view to maintaining peace.

The Committee members, on a fact-finding mission to the area, met with the paramount ruler of Igbogbo, Oba Johnson Fatola, who confirmed the plight of the people, adding that several efforts to mediate in the issue had met a brick wall.

He said the case had been on for years and had been a family issue between factions of the Adeyoruwa family in Agunfoye community.

Oba Fatola confirmed that the matter had been in court and that the judgement of the court had favoured Ishawu Ogunlana. However, he said his concern was for those who purchased landed properties in the community.

He said he did not want their houses demolished and as a result, he had attempted several times to meet with Mr. Ogunlana so that they could fashion out a way to resolve the issue.

But while he was still doing this, he said Ogunlana started the demolition of houses without considering the level of the development in the community, or give room for fresh negotiations with the residents.

Since then, the royal father said he had not been happy considering the inhumane attitude of the hoodlums in the area which he said was occupied by peaceful and responsible big family members.

“We belong to the same family, including myself, and we would not allow anybody to rubbish the name and the Igbogbo community,” the Oba told the Committee.

He urged the Committee to take urgent action to prevent subsequent demolitions and ruthless activities in the area. He further urged the state House of Assembly to make a law that would ban the activities of land speculators in the state.

The Odofin of Igbogbo Community, Tajudeen Onasanya, in his own comment, said that after the court judgement, the speculators refused to discuss with all the chiefs including the monarch; rather they resorted to demolition of the existing houses, noting that as a result, an aged woman was killed while some residents were seriously injured and hospitalised.

The chief added that more than 500 people were rendered homeless as a result of the ruthless activities stressing that, “we have instructed our people not to retaliate or take laws into their own hands but rather keep calm and be peaceful.”

When efforts by the delegation to reach Mr. Ogunsanya failed because he could not be located, Abiru appealed to the residents to maintain peace, since investigation of the matter was still on.

He promised that all parties in the dispute, including Ogunlana, would be invited for proper deliberations as the state government continues to jealously guard the peace in the state.

“I assure the residents of sufficient security of life and property as the state Commissioner of Police has been directed to provide adequate security for the community,” he told the residents