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‘Stop Terrorising Us’ — Lagos Community Protests Against Armed Police Presence
Eko Hot Blog reports that members of the Oyetubo Jokotade family, in the Sangotedo area of Ajah, and allottees, on Wednesday, stormed the streets to protest the presence of armed policemen in their community.
According to Vanguard, the protesters lamented that all their labour on their property went down the drain.
Their protest followed a recent demolition by the Lagos State government’s agency and the protesters maintained that they had the governor’s consent on the affected land.
They displayed placards with inscriptions such as ‘Lagos State, please let us breathe’, ‘Taskforce leave our land, stop terrorising us’, ‘Governor Sanwo-Olu, uphold democracy values’.
The group’s spokesperson, Saliu Tajudeen, noted that the protest became necessary following suspicion that the demolition action could not have come from the Lagos Government.
“We operate under the name Oyetubo Jokotade Estate Management. It comprises three families. We have been managing our properties which are over 200 hectares of land. Out of it we decided to reserve 11 hectares,” he explained.
“We allotted some portions to some people but to our surprise, some hijackers hiding under the state government took over our land claiming that they were acting on the instructions of the governor. We took the matter to court and an Interlocutory Injunction was granted pending the determination of the case.
“The Lagos State Government has denied involvement. That is why we are calling on the governor to step into the matter and stop the hijackers from using police to harass us and the allottees.
“We also urge Governor Sanwo-Olu to intervene so as to avoid breakdown of law and order in the area, because we don’t want trouble.”
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu
Also speaking, the community head, Chief Akinsemoye, insisted that the property owners abided by a court order but some state agents went against the order by encroaching their land.
He called on the Lagos governor and state Commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa, to intervene in the matter.
“We approached the court and an Interlocutory Injunction was granted. We abided by the order but, surprisingly, some people who claimed to be agents of the Lagos State government and some hijackers encroached into the land with Task Force policemen to harass us,” the community head stated.
“The Commissioner of Police in Lagos State, Idowu Owohunwa, Gov Sanwo-Olu and other authorities concerned should help us. We are the rightful owner of the land. The hijackers are using the office of the governor to perpetrate the crime.”
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