Over 100 members of Okun-Obadore Community in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State have staged a peaceful protest over alleged invasion of their farmland by one Shade Gbadamosi and her husband, Tunde, owners of Amen Estate and Founders of Redbrick Homes Ltd.
The land in dispute is a large expanse of farmland of about 35 acres.
However, in a swift reaction, when contacted, Gbadamosi denied the allegation, saying: “We legitimately bought the land from the owners, who were properly and legally resettled to the place by the Lagos State Government and we have our documents to show for it.”
As early as 7:00 a.m on Wednesday, members of the community, among whom were elderly men and youths, staged the prostest in Lekki, carrying placards with various inscriptions.
Speaking on behalf of the community, Onweneke Williams-Joel, their lawyer, alleged that “sometime in March 2021, upon a routine inspection to the site, our client was accosted by heavily armed mobile policemen who dared to shoot on sight anyone found within a large portion of the property belonging to the community.
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“Upon further investigation, it dawned on our client that over 35 acres of land out of our client’s total land had been encroached upon by one Shade Gbadamosi and her husband, Tunde Gbadamosi, owners of Amen Estate and Founders of Redbrick Homes Ltd, whom our client never entered into any form of transaction with.
“In view of this situation, our client instructed us to make a report to the office of the Assistant Inspector General, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Alagbon, Ikoyi with a view to repelling the illegal invasion of their property by parties unknown. Unfortunately, the trespass continued. As a result of this, she has denied them access to their livelihood as most of the community people are farmers and fishermen.
“In view of the above, we use this medium to appeal to the office of the Commissioner, Ministry of Lands, Attorney General of Lagos State and the Governor of Lagos State to speedily come to our aid as matters are gradually being escalated.”
Williams-Joel further said: “All our client requires is for an impartial committee to be set up with a view to settling the disputes in a fair manner by reversion of our client’s land back to them. We shall go to any length to obtain justice in this matter and we hope that the spirit of the law be followed to the letter.”
Reacting, Shade Gbadamosi said: “We are a reputable, innovative and transparent real estate development company with almost two decades of trading history in Nigeria.
“There are gangs of land grabbers/omo-onile/ajagungbale, usually operating under the cover of local communities, and sometimes procured by unscrupulous land speculators masquerading as respectable real estate ‘developers’, selling fake land to unsuspecting, hard-working Lagosians at home and abroad, who usually end up losing their land savings to these flashy charlatans operating all over Lagos State for some years now.
“They have become such a serious problem to Lagosians that they necessitated the creation of the Anti Land Grabbing Committee by the state government,” Gbadamosi said.
She noted that they have petitioned said committee and hearing is still ongoing, even as the committee has already taken some steps.
