Land Dispute: Agege Community Leaders Urge Respect For Court

By Kazeem Akande

Community leaders in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State have waded into a land dispute in the community, urging respect for the court processes.

The dispute over the land, located at No. 47, Old Ogba Road, Agege, involves Mr Edwards Ayo-Odugbesan, a former deputy speaker of the Ogun House of Assembly, and the Agege council.

The community leaders, led by Oba Kamali Isiba, the Olu of Agege, during a stakeholders’ meeting on Wednesday in Agege, urged all parties to exercise caution and to allow the court to be the final arbiter of the dispute.

Egbeyemi, however, noted that Ayo-Odugbesan should have sought professional advice from a registered surveyor before laying claim on the land.

“The issue at hand is straightforward.

“I am a registered surveyor myself, a composite plan has been proposed where it showed that the C of O possessed by the said Ayo-Odugbesan does not tally with the original plan of the land.

“If he had sought advice from the registered surveyor he would have been educated on the plan survey he is holding,” he said.

According to the royal father, Odugbesan should allow the court to make its decisions and refrain from intimidating council officials.

Similarly, Chief Owolabi Dada, a former chairman of the council, said he had watched with displeasure over the conflict between the council and Ayo-Odugbesan over the land.

“While we welcome the Odugbesan’s recourse to court to seek redress over the demolition of the school built on the land in question, we dislike their resort to self-help and intimidation of our council officials.

Dada explained that the attempt by the aggrieved to claim ownership of the land was not out of place, as several of such cases abound.

He said trying to intimidate council officials carrying out their official duties was, however, condemnable, provocative and vexatious.

“As lawyers, they should know better. That in a situation like the one at hand, the court is the final arbiter and should be accorded due respect,” Dada said.

Also, Mr Theophilus Afolabi, a community leader, claimed that the council procured the land in the 1980s.

Afolabi explained that the land used to be waterlogged before it was allocated for the council to build market.

“We decided that the particular place would be suitable for a market; that was why we wrote the state government and we were referred to the land bureau where the property was allocated valid documents and plan.

“After that, we called on the encroachers of the land for dialogue but Mr Odugbesan refused to honour our invitations and later the property was demolished with the state government approval,” he said.

On his part, Chief Ganiyu Egunjobi, Chairman, Agege LGA, urged the state government to intervene in the dispute by investigating the claims of Ayo-Odugbesan.

NAN reports that Ayo-Odugbesan was the owner of the Edwards Private School, situated on the disputed land before it was demolished by the council. (NAN)