By Emma Njoku and Lukman Olabiyi
There was palpable tension at the Shangisha area of Magodo Estate in Lagos, yesterday, following an attempt to execute a Supreme Court judgment on the landed property.
The apex court’s verdict delivered on February 10, 2012, mandated Lagos State government to give back 549 plots to the original landowners of the area before it was acquired over 38 years ago.
Worried by the unusual presence of a bulldozer and mobile policemen, residents of the estate, yesterday morning, barricaded all entrances to the estate to resist the planned demolition of houses in the area by members of a family who claimed to be the original owner of the land.
Some of the residents who spoke to Daily Sun said some policemen had earlier, on Tuesday, visited the estate with some hoodlums and they allegedly marked virtually all the houses in the estate for demolition with the inscription: “ID/795/88 possession taken today, 21/12/2021, by court order”.
Daily Sun further gathered that some policemen stormed the estate on Tuesday night to forestall any resistance from house owners during the demolition exercise even as a bulldozer had already been stationed by the estate gate.
However, yesterday morning, residents of the estate trooped out in their numbers and formed a human barricade at the entrance of the estate to stop the bulldozer from gaining entry into the estate, thereby, obstructing other human and vehicular movements in and out of the estate.
When Daily Sun visited the scene later yesterday, normalcy had returned as the estate gates had been reopened while free movement in and out of the estate had resumed.
Legal Adviser of Magodo Residents Association, Tunji Abdulhameed, told journalists that residents of the estate were not aware of any court verdict issued in favour of the Shangisha Landlords Association to demolish houses in the community.
“We are not aware of any court order which allows for any demolition of properties in this estate. We asked them to show us papers and they refused. “We are aware that they obtained an order against the Lagos state government, the judgement which people believe is fake as no specific definition of properties were mentioned.
“What the judgement said is that the Lagos state government should allocate 549 plots to them. As at today, no plot has been allocated. Until the plots are allocated to them, that is when they become property owners.
“All the properties you see here were allocations from the Lagos state government and the owners obtained certificates of occupancy to that effect. And those certificates are still valid; they have not been revoked,” he said.
Also, Bajo Osinubi, chairman of MRA, said they decided to open the estate’s gates owing to the promise made by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu that the state is “on top of the case”.