Tag Archives: LAND GRABBERS

Protest as police fail to arraign alleged land grabbers.

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About 120 residents of Oko-Olomi community in Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State on Wednesday protested the failure of the police to arraign land grabbing suspects, Alhaji Mutairu Owoeye and Ganiyu ‘Garba’ Owoeye, at the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

The men and women from 15 villages in the community said they had been summoned to the court by the police to testify of the invasion and destruction of their homes on April 17 by thugs allegedly hired by the suspects.

Speaking through their counsel, Shem Popoola, they displayed a warrant for the arrest of Owoeye and one Ganiyu ‘Garba’ Owoeye issued on October 19 by a Wuse Magistrates’ Court, Abuja in suit No: IBK/FIB/FCIID/FHQ/ABJ/171/ 2016.

The warrant, Popoola said, was issued following an October 5 petition to the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Abuja.

Popoola said: “They were arrested on Monday by a team from the Force Investigation and Intelligence Bureau, Abuja and the head of the FIIB, Assistant Inspector General of Police Shehu Umar, ordered on Tuesday that they should be arraigned in Igbosere this morning (yesterday).

“We got to the court this morning and there was no suspect, no Investigative Police Officer and no prosecutor. I called the Commissioner of Police Legal Department, Abuja and the prosecutor handling the case, Superintendent A. Oluwole, said his office had prepared the charge but had not seen the suspects.

“We later found out that the suspects were released at 4pm on Tuesday, just after we left the AIG’s office and that no one knew where they were.

“We are shocked that people who were arrested on a warrant issued by a court could be released just like that.”

Popoola added that their homes were destroyed despite an injunction by Justice Abisoye Bashua of Lagos High Court, Epe in suit No: EPD/047/2016 ordering Mutairu Owoeye “to remove all thugs and hoodlums” in Oko-Olomi.

He added: “The villagers were violently attacked by the hoodlums and are all on exile. We complained to the police at Zone II, Onikan, to no avail. That’s why we went to Abuja. Our lives are in danger. We have been receiving threat messages from two phone numbers. We are crying for justice.”

Three Suspected Land Grabbers Arrested In Lagos

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The police in Lagos Monday paraded three men alleged to be land grabbers.
The suspects, Igbokun Ogunkoya, 40, Ayoola Ahmed, 20 and Lateef Alase, 44 were arrested on Sunday at Alade village in Ikeja.
They were alleged to have forcibly entered and willfully damaged a property before detectives rounded them up based on tip off.
But the suspects who denied the allegations against them, said they were contracted by the owner of the property, one Abayomi, to excavate an abandoned foundation.
According to Ogunkoya who spoke on behalf of the three, he was a registered contractor and invited the other two to work for him after the said Abayomi contracted him for the job.

“We are not land grabbers and we have never been. I am a contractor and I invited them to work for me. Ahmed was operating the tractor and Alase works for me. We started work there on Saturday. It was the owner, one Abayomi who gave us the job and that Saturday many policemen from the Special Anti-Robbery Sqaud (SARS) were on ground.


“We worked on Saturday and returned on Sunday to continue work. There were three policemen there with us still. It was while we were working that some policemen came and said we were land grabbers. That we were not authorised to do that work. They arrested the policemen with us that they were on illegal duty but since then, we have not seen the three policemen,” he said.

Parading the suspects, Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni said the command will use them as example against land grabbers.
He said: “This is to demonstrate the command’s resolve to completely stamp out the madness of land grabbers. The law against land grabbing will be strictly enforced and the command will work in unison with the Taskforce established to contain the menace. The suspects will be arraigned in court.”