Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Hoodlums suspected to be land-grabbers over the weekend, invaded Falokun village in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State and shot a bricklayer working on a building site in the community.
The 34 year old bricklayer, identified as Abdulahi Olalekan, was on the site owned by a property company with other labourers working, when the hoodlums allegedly stormed the site and started shooting sporadically and in the melee that ensued, Olakekan was shot in the jaw.
The hoodlums, said to be led by the duo of Umar and Wasiu, reportedly accused the property company of encroaching on the landed property of their clients and forcefully chased away the site workers under the pretence of reclaiming the land from the company.
It was also gathered that the attackers allegedly took away three motorcycles belonging to the site workers and abandoned the shot bricklayer in a pool of his own blood.
A suspect, simply identified as ‘Killer’ has been arrested and detained at the Owode-Egba Police Station, in connection with the incident
Meanwhile, representative of the property company, Alexander Waheed, has written a petition to the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, to institute investigation into the matter and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The petition, a copy which was obtained by our correspondent, fingered Wasiu as the mastermind of the attack and called for his arrest and his accomplices for “act of thuggery, threat to life, malicious damage among others.”
The petitioner explained that the property company had purchased the land in the six villages of Falokun and ratified all the necessary title documents, including the Deed of Sale and Deeds of Agreement between year 2003 and 2005.
“But when we visited the site in March this year, we discovered that there was encroachment and that forced us to erect fences on the land. While we were trying to complete fencing, Wasiu suddenly appeared with the hoodlums and started attacking our workers and pulling down our fences,” he stated.
He, however, disclosed that the father of the leader of the hoodlums was among the family members who sold the land and signed the title documents for the company.