Landlords at the Ogudu Muslim Community Praying Ground in Lagos’ Oworonsoki area have filed a complaint with the Lagos High Court over a suspected land grabber’s forceful encroachment on their praying ground.
The aggrieved landlords are seeking a declaration that they were the rightful owners of the land based on their Certificate of Occupancy and Deed of Assignment in two separate suits filed before Justice Gbadebo Oshoala and Justice A.M Lawal at the Ikeja Division of the State High Court, marked ID/1722LMW/2022 and ID/1724LMW/2022.
Prince Wale Alaba Oyekoya, Mrs. Pauline Wandoo NSA, and Ms. Oreoluwa Edowaye Obasuyi are the plaintiffs in the case.
The claimants requested a declaration from the court in their originating summons dated April 6, 2022, that Ajibola Bisiriyu and some thugs are trespassing on their land parcel.
They also want a court order directing Ajibola Bisiriyu to rebuild or re-erect the perimeter fence that was allegedly destroyed by thugs around the parcel of land.
The aggrieved landlords are seeking N200 million in damages from Ajibola Bisiriyu, which would cover the cost of the tons of iron rods, sand, and granite carted away by his thugs, as well as the cost of rebuilding the perimeter fence destroyed by the Defendants during their invasions in April 2021 and March 2022.
They are requesting an additional N100 million in compensation for the psychological torture they endured as well as the trauma caused by the invasion.
The claimants claimed that the defendant invaded the land in April 2021 with police officers from the Lagos State Taskforce and thugs, claiming that the land had been allocated to him for estate development by the state government.
According to the aggrieved Landlords’ affidavit in support, “the thugs destroyed their perimeter fence and carted away tons of iron rods, sand, granite, and other materials used as materials for the ongoing construction on the land, and they also demolished the existing uncompleted buildings on their land” during the invasion.
The aggrieved landlords claimed they sought redress by approaching the Lagos State Special Task Force on Land Grabbers of the Ministry of Justice and writing a petition to the Nigeria Police Zone 2 Command.
They claimed that the two authorities’ attempts to have Ajibola Bisiriyu appear before them to substantiate his claims were futile because Bisiriyu refused to do so.
Following that, the aggrieved landlords sought a restraining order against the defendant in a Lagos State High Court.
