Possession order: Agidingbi residents protest Supreme Court judgement

Hundreds of residents from Agidingbi area of Lagos State, on Thursday, stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly to protest the judgement of the Supreme Court over a land dispute in the area.
The apex court had granted judgement in favour of the Akinole-Oshiun Family to take possession of 398 acres of land in the area.
 
No less than 2,000 properties in Agidingbi, Acme Road and part of Magodo will be  affected by the judgement if executed.
 
The Akinole-Oshiun Family, already, had placed possession notices in all the affected properties as well as issued a seven-day notice to residents to vacate their homes.
 
The protesters chanted solidarity songs, and carried several placards with such inscriptions that read:
 
“There is no ancestral connection between Akinole and Agindingbi”,  LASG: Stop illegal land grabbers”,  “Akinole-Oshiun Family members  are land grabbers, “Land grabbers are enemies of Lagos State”, and “Enough is enough for land grabbers.”
 
The Baale of Agindingbi, Mr Ganiu Aruna, delivered a letter to the House.
 
The community leader in the letter informed the state government and the Assembly that the proposed actions of the Akinole-Oshiun Family were capable of precipitating danger, threats, mayhem as well as disturbing the peace of the community if allowed to be enforced.
 
“This threat is aided by some compromised security agents, who accompanied them to threaten the lives of inhabitants of the area in the state on April 26, 2019.
 
“Although, it is no longer a hidden fact that the Aleshinloye Family owns Agindingbi land under acquisition from the state government.
 
“It is strange to see that the Akinole-Oshiun Family is laying spurious claims to the whole land in the community.
 
“They also threaten to destroy the properties of the inhabitants in the community as well as bulldoze and destroy buildings in the community within seven days,” he said.
 
According to him, the threat is said to be founded on the judgment obtained, to be enforced on the property within the community.
 
He called on the state government and the lawmakers to intervene in the matter in order to avoid crisis.
 
Also speaking on behalf of the protesters, Mr Wasiu Seidu, said Agidingbi area had been in existence for over 200 years.
 
He said that it was not possible for “somebody to just wake up now to take over the land based on a court judgment that never got them involved”.
 
Seidu said that the great-grandfathers of  the late Alhaja Abibat Mogaji were part owners of Agidingbi area of the state.
 
He appealed to the state government and the assembly to intervene in the matter to avoid crisis.
 
Also, the Iyalode of Agindingbi community, 83-year-old Madam Dorcas Modupe, also said that her great grandparents and she were born in the area.
 
Modupe said that the Akinole-Oshiun Family could not lay claim to the ownership of the land.
 
The Deputy Majority leader of the Assembly, Mr Olumuyiwa Jimoh, addressed the protesters on behalf of the Speaker.
 
He said that the Assembly would study the letter from the community and investigate the matter as well as get back to the community.
 
He said that after looking into their letter, the assembly would invite the affected parties so that all of them could jointly find lasting solutions to the matter.
 
He appealed to them to be peaceful and not take the laws into their hands.