The ongoing battle over the ownership of Magodo Phase 2 Estate, Lagos, will eventually lead to the demolition of houses, controversial journalist Kemi Olunloyo warns.
Olunloyo issued the warning after a police officer who was deployed to the highbrow estate openly defied Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday and refused to withdraw his men from the residential area.
Residents had complained that the police refused to leave the area after accompanying bulldozers and thugs to the estate in a failed demolition attempt weeks ago.
Those who want to take possession of land in the area point to a court ruling empowering them to do so. But the state government says the ruling only mandates the state to allocate land to the claimants anywhere in the state, and not for them to seize land in Magodo.
“I hope you all asked your parents what happened in Magodo happened under President (Muhammadu) Buhari when he was a general,” Olunloyo said in a Facebook post this morning.
“As my father Victor Omololu Olunloyo says, ‘The military boys forcefully took the land and shared it between themselves’. He was referring to how military governor Raji Rasaki gave Maroko people seven days to pack and relocate. The land is now called Lekki.
“On to Magodo Phase 2 where the military forcefully took the land from the Shangisha family. Their great grandchildren have gone to the Supreme Court. They have a court order to take back their land.
“Where are the military boys? All retired enjoying abroad and their families taken care of. Some even passed away while destroying so many lives. The people say they purchased the land from the Lagos State Government. The land title is now an issue.
What happened here in law enforcement terms in US/Canada is called ‘theft by conversion’ which is what the military did in 1984. The 1978 land use act comes in.
