Job Osazuwa
Family members of late Alhaja Ashimawu Waleola, today, protested what they called a forceful and illegal trespass by Agege Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos State on its uncompleted building situated on 33 Awori Street, Oniwaya area.
Speaking on behalf of the family members, the daughter of the deceased, Madam Afusatu Konigbagbe, who is 92, said that she and her brother inherited the property from their mother and could not fold their arms and watch it forfeited to government.
She said that the land measuring 524.11 square yards was purchased from one Aljahi Jinadu Onilenla on December 21, 1971 without any encumbrance. She added that her family went further to ratify the purchase of same land on August 8, 2010 with the estate of Onilenla.
“But all of a sudden, we saw the council’s signpost there that it has taken possession of it without any legal justification. All the documents that we duly obtained from the right ministries are intact.
“Taking this building away from me is an attempt to take my life. I am begging the state government and the good people of the state to come to our aid because I don’t have the power to fight them.”
Another member of the aggrieved family, Alhaji Issa Ismail, said that he was convinced that the traditional ruler of the area has connived with the local government to grab the land and the property from them. He stressed that his family has all the entitle documents, including Certificate of Occupancy.
He claimed that the fence that was allegedly pulled down by the government cost his family over eight hundred thousand naira to erect.
Reacting to the allegation on the telephone, the council boss, Hon. Ganiyu Egunjobi, told Daily Sun that the property has been abandoned for almost forty years and has since become a hideout for miscreants and robbers, who meet there to strategise and unleash mayhem on the people of the community and the state.
“The local government decided to take over that property for public interest. We are going to use it for a health centre which the people will benefit from. There is nothing hidden about it and there is no going back from building the health centre,” he said.
He advised whoever is claiming ownership of the property to come over to the council secretariat with whatever documents they have.
While they were insisting that the government’s contractor must not carry out any construction at the site, a member of the family told the reporter that a taskforce team stormed the site to arrest many of his relatives.
It was gathered that members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) were using the property for their periodic meetings, which Alhaji Ismail confirmed saying that his family gave the local security group the nod.