Victims of demolished houses in Ajegunle/Araromi community in Makun in Sagamu LGA along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have accused the state government of wiping out their lineage by selling their ancestral land to a Chinese company.
City & Crime reports that officials of the state’s Bureau of Land and Survey, accompanied by policemen, two weeks ago stormed the community, pulling down about 20 houses and commercial buildings, including a hotel.
The residents lamented that the state government by the demolition had wiped them out of their ancestral home.
Addressing journalists in Abeokuta on Thursday, a representative of the community, Olufemi Ogunleye, alleged that the government demolished their houses after selling their land to a Chinese company for industrial purposes without paying them compensation.
Ogunleye, who described the demolition as a “rape of justice”, accused the government of demolishing the houses despite a court injunction refraining it from carrying out the exercise.
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He alleged that the demolition was a “deliberate attempt by the government to forcefully take over and allocate our inheritance to foreigners in the name of financial gain.”
He lamented that the affected residents lost all their belongings worth millions of naira as the agents of government prevented them from removing their property before commencing the demolition.
He, therefore, demanded the reconstruction of their houses and compensation for the damages.
He further said, “This is a rape of justice. Some of us cannot even claim our place of origin again; it is like we are being wiped off of the planet earth.
“The unlawful acquisition of land and destruction of property not only disrupts the lives of individuals and families, but also undermines the principles of justice and fairness that our society is built upon.
“The demolition also underscores the flagrant disregard of rule of law demonstrated by agents and agencies of government who are supposed to be respecters and defenders of law.
“We were reliably informed that a Chinese, Mr Felix, through his consultant who retired from the Ministry of Lands in Abeokuta, heavily bribed the government officials to carry out this dastardly act after they misled Mr Governor to sign a demolition order.
“As law abiding citizens, we have tried to maintain peace, and it was on this ground that we sought redress in a competent court which granted us an injunction refraining the government from further action on the land, but the officials of government ignored this and threw the rule of law and court decision into the winds.
“Despite documents given to us by these same government agencies and our massive support for Governor Dapo Abiodun since 2015, we are terribly pained that the only reward this government could give back in return of our support and loyalty is destruction of our hard earned investment and forcefully taking over our family ancestral land to gift to a foreigner.”
But the Director General (DG) of the Bureau of Land and Survey, Segun Fowora, said the government broke no law in demolishing the houses.
Fowora described the victims as “illegal occupants” of government land, saying the government had given the residents repeated stop orders which they ignored.
He also insisted that compensation had been paid by the government to the land owners.
He said, “They have been given repeated stop orders, they have no ownership over the land, they have no documents and no planning permission.
“There was never a court order refraining us, nothing was served on this ministry on that particular site. They were told repeatedly by this bureau that they cannot build on the land that does not belong to them, but they continued to do so with impunity, claiming they know people at the top.”
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