Bailiffs from an Ogun High Court in Ijebu Ode on Tuesday effected the court judgment on a 9.2 hectares of family land at Odoyanta, via Irewon in Ijebu Ode Local Government Area.
Freedomonline reports that the bailiffs were accompanied by a detachment of police officers from the headquarters of the Police Command, Eleweran, Abeokuta.
Freedomonline also reports that the land belonged to the late traditional ruler of the town, Oba Solomon Erinle.
The lawful take over was sequel to the judgment delivered on April 29, 2024 by Justice O.H. Oyajinmi which sacked the illegal occupiers of the land.
Oyajinmi had, thereafter, affirmed Mrs Mojisola Oyedele, Olugbenga Erinle and other beneficiaries of the estate of the late traditional ruler as the rightful owners of the land.
Speaking with newsmen during the exercise, the lawyer representing the Erinle family, Ganiyu Faniyi, said they were there to ensure that the court judgment was upheld.
“We got here in 2022, I mean, to this vast land of 9.2 hectares and we found out that some trespassers were already on the land without the consent of my clients.
“We warned them to desist but they would not yield, and because we don’t want to take the law into our hands, we approached the court and got the judgment last year April.
“So, we are here today to take the possession of the property, as directed by the court.
“What this means is that from today, anybody who does anything again on the land without the consent or authority of my clients will be guilty of contempt of the court, which comes with severe sanctions,” he said.
Faniyi said that the lesson from the incident was for members of the public to always employ the services of lawyers to conduct diligent search on the status of any property that they might desire to buy.
This, he said, would help in revealing the genuine title holders to the land and, as such, the buyers would not be doing business with wrong people.
