Family commends LASG for action taken on Monkey Village

The Meadows Family in collaboration with a developer, Akeem Ariori has commended the Lagos State Government for granting the removal of structures on the former Monkey Village now Meadows/Village in Ikeja.
In an interaction with journalists in Lagos yesterday, they justified the decision noting that the action has brought peace and safety of lives and properties to residents in the area.
According to them, these clarifications came weeks after the government pulled down the structures within the village and handed it over to the owners for development following a ruling of the Supreme Court that seeded the land to the Meadows, who were the original owners of the property in Opebi axis of the state.
Tosin Meadows, a representative from the family said that the government action on the land at 1, Folorunsho Kuku Street, Opebi, Ikeja, came when they had almost given up on the property even after obtaining court judgement.
Beaming with smiles, Tosin described the former occupants as illegal squatters and that they were never known by law to be rightful owners of the property. He enjoined the public to disregard anyone claiming to be owner of the property, saying, anything concerning the land has been handed over to Engineer Ariori.
“We have heard about some counsel advocating for their clients but we know that the government knows that very well that any tenant on the land know that the property belongs to the Meadows. “Whatever anyone wishes to contest on the land is either to meet with the family or Ariori who the family has given to manage the property on their behalf. “We are thanking the government for their action on this because they have restored the property to the legitimate owners.
“ We thank the governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for standing with the truth. This is what we have not been able to do over the years. We thank the developer for assisting us to get back our heritage from the illegal occupants”, he added.
In the same vein, Ariori, disclosed that the owners have been denied access to their property, said: “ The government has only assisted us to remove the unauthorised occupants from the land. “Even the residents have written to the state government complaining that their community has been taken over by some unidentified individuals that often vandalise their vehicles at night and sometimes burgle their homes”, the developer added.
It will be recalled that that the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, in a statement titled: Opebi Land Tussle: Lagos Justifies Action On Disputed Land, made available to newsmen, explained what transpired before the government finally settled to enforce court judgement. Omotosho, further disclosed that the government, through Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Moyosore Onigbanjo, set up a committee of Inquiry following complaint raised by a legal practitioner, Monday Ubani, on the land.
The commissioner noted that findings further revealed that all the survey plans presented by both the Meadows family and that Ubani’s client revealed that the land fell within the Meadows’ family land and that the contentious land which enforcement was carried out by the government falls within the parcel of land for which Meadows family obtained judgement in their favour in Suit No. LG/513/80. The statement reads: “In order to investigate all claims, the Committee invited all the parties involved to its sitting which commenced on 4th January until 1st of February, 2021, to ascertain the identity of the land upon which enforcement was carried out and determine the present legal status of ownership as well as the level of involvement of the State Government Agencies. “It was established that the Lagos State Special Task Force on Land Grabbers (LSSTF) took its action based on the petition received from Messrs. Millan Solicitors, on behalf of the Meadows family, to eject the occupants of the land in contention, which harbours shanties, mechanics and miscreants.