Octogenarian Nabbed by Police Over Alleged Land Grabbing in Lagos

Nigerian police

Eko Hot Blog reports that An 82-year- old woman has been arrested in connection with a land grabbing case. She was accused of attempting to grab-back landed properties belonging to business owners and residents of Kirikiri Town, located at the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State.

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The owners of the land, who either bought or leased their property, petitioned the Zone 2 Police Command headquarters, Onikan, Lagos and the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ali Mohammed Ari, who ordered the arrest of the old woman.

It was gathered that the suspect and others, who were said to be descendants of late Pa Lawrenco Antonio Cardoso, who bought large portions of landed properties from the Imoore Royal Family, the ancestral owners of Kirikiri Town and Apapa, in the year 1919, allegedly filed a frivolous suit before the Lagos State High Court in 2014, stating that descendants of late Pa L.A. Cardoso had a dispute over his Estate.

It was further alleged that the suspect and her cohorts, in their efforts to convince the court that there was a dispute on the late Pa L.A. Cardoso’s Estate, listed names of some of their relatives who were deceased and those who were alive, who had no knowledge of the said suit numbered M/7P/2014, as plaintiffs and defendants. After a while, they re-approached the court and informed it that they had settled their disputes over their progenitor’s Estate and they would want Hon. Justice J.O. Pedro of the Lagos State High Court to grant them a consent judgement, declaring every transaction done on the estate in the past as void.

It was also gathered that Justice Pedro, while granting the consent judgement did not order the judgement creditors to seal up companies and residential buildings in Kirikiri town, while enforcing its judgement, but residents and business owners in the community, who bought and leased their properties from the Cardoso family, saw their properties, including oil and gas facilities, maritime servicing jetties and residential buildings, sealed up.

While the suspect and two others, who were said to have been appointed as administrators of the estate, were alleged to have asked the oil and gas deports/owners to pay them the sum of N500 million each, if they wanted their facilities reopened, else they would have them resold.

It was also alleged that the appointed administrators and their agents had also brought in some unknown persons to inspect the properties with the sole prospect of having them sold off to new buyers.

Based on these events, it was gathered that the management of Nakem Oil and Gas, who also bought their property, a waterfront land, from the suspect and members of her family in 2010, for the sum of N100 million, and built oil and gas deports on it, valued at N10 billion, were forced to call the attention of the Assistant Inspector General Zone 2, through a petition dated October 1, 2023, asking him to investigate the alleged act of land grabbing perpetuated by the suspect and get her cohorts, and the wrongful enforcement of a consent judgement which they were not parties to.

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When contacted Zonal Police Public Relations Officer, Zone 2 Command, SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu, said the AIG had received the petition and detailed a crack team of operatives to investigate the case.

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