Indigenes of Ojomu community (Ajiran Land) in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State have called on the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the police to intervene on the land dispute between them and some individuals they regarded as land grabbers.
This was recently made known through a communiqué signed by the secretary of the Ojomu Youth Forum and the Concerned Indigenes of Ajiran Land, Wasiu Yekini.
According to the communiqué, the land in question belongs to the indigenous people of Ajiran. It is a communal land (Ojomu chieftaincy family land) held and administered in trust for the whole family.
“As has been the practice from the days of our forebears, the community has lawyers appointed to handle all land matters, in a fair and transparent manner, for the benefit of the Ajiran/Ijomu Community,” the report reads.
The communiqué accused Oba Akinloye and Yekeni Bakare, and some civil society organisations (CSO) of using propaganda and the media to grab the land in contest from the community.
Yekini’s report described the CSO as a sponsored amorphous group with intentions of turning the hunter into the hunted, and also attempting to turn legitimate demands by genuinely aggrieved community leaders and youths into something despicable.
“A cursory peek at the profile, antecedents and mandate of Centre for Human and Socio-economic Rights (CHSR), the group acting as the agent of Oba Akinloye and his sidekick, Alhaji Yekeni Bakare will reveal that it is a group of mercenary ready to lend itself to the highest bidder,” the report reads.
According to Yekini’s report, that the Kabiyesi or any of his subject or any member of the Ajiran/Ojomu land was threatened physically or psychologically was not true.
“In reality, the media and press statement only succeeded in achieving the exact opposite of what it set out to achieve.”
The report stated that a certain ‘Comrade’ Alex Omotehinse convoked a civil society stakeholder’s press conference to express “deep concerns over the continuous threats to public peace as a consequence of the unlawful activities of land grabbers in Ojomu Community.”
Yekini alleged that Omotehinse is against the youths and people of Ajiran/Ojomu land, and that the intervention of the civil society stakeholders has become imperative to put an end to reckless abuse of human rights.
Yekini also alleged that Omotehinse passed judgement on the residents of Ojomu land condemning them to eternal damnation for demanding probity, accountability and preservation of their common heritage.
The report has it that the community youths, led by the Ojomu Youth Forum President, Tajudeen Ahmed, have been at the forefront of maintaining the peace of the community. However, the report also has it that Oba Akinloye and Bakare have set the duo against the community by recruiting mercenaries to blackmail the Youths Forum for daring to challenge their fraudulent activities.
The report alleged that the Kabiyesi has made several allegations against indigenes of the Ajiran community and the Ojomu family to the police. However, the Youth Forum, led by Tajudeen Ahmed, has the mandate of the community to raise questions regarding the alleged stealing of collective patrimony that the Oba and his ally are engaged in. The Youths alleged, The Kabiyesi has never brought any development to the community despite selling several hectares of land over the years.
Yekini stated that there were initially five signatories to all land deeds of the Ojomu Family, and that upon the demise of three of them and their subsequent replacement by their families, Oba Akinloye and Bakare insisted on being the only two individuals to execute documents on behalf of the family.
“The sale of the family land is conducted in an opaque manner such that a significant portion of our patrimony has been sold by the greedy duo without any account made to the family,” the report reads.
“In several letters written to Governor Sanwo-Olu and other governmental agencies, the community has consistently frowned at the subterranean attempt by the traditional ruler and his ally to change legal representatives for the purpose of all Deeds of Assignment of portions of land forming part of our communal land (Ojomu chieftaincy family land),” the report reads.