By Ebun Sessou

Oby Nwakor, a fish farmer in Labora/Owode area of Ibeju-Lekki in Lagos, is among thousands of residents who were recently rendered homeless due to no fault of theirs. Nwakor moved to Labora community in 2008. With the little income he made from his farming business, he built a little house to provide accommodation for him and his family.

But, today, he is at the verge of losing that same house to some unknown persons who, he claimed, recently invaded the community.

Narrating his ordeal to Vanguard Metro, VM, he said on the fateful day of January 24, 2015, they woke up to witness what amounted to shocking lawlessness and impunity exhibited by some thugs and policemen who came into the community. “We just woke up one day and saw strange people clearing the entire community without any evidence that they are the owners of the community.

Owners of the property

“Despite the fact that we have been given our C of O as documents to prove that we purchased and owned the land legally, yet we have been treated as slaves in our own land. Unfortunately, these strangers said they are the owners of the property. The question is: If that is the case, why didn’t they take steps to secure the said land before this time?

“When we bought the land, we took time to investigate; we got our survey plan and gazette and we confirmed that the land was free from acquisition. We registered the estate and some of us already have C of Os as proof. We have been beaten and humiliated in the course of investigating this issue. They want to forcefully take away our properties; I am devastated.

“This is happening at a time when it is very difficult to put shelter on oneself. Some of our homes have been bulldozed. I don’t know why government will stand by and watch us become homeless. We have been intimidated, even with our C of Os,”he lamented.

A visit to the area revealed that indeed some families are already homeless while their children cannot go to school again. This is because their houses had been fenced off.

Reacting to the encroachment, most residents noted that they were taken unawares by unidentified thugs and the policemen who claimed to be acting under authority. They explained that in the event, over 256 hectares of land have been taken from Labora/Owode.

Mr. Frederick Oguoma, a business man and landlord who has been living in the community for 15 years, lamented that his family and business have been shattered by this action. According to him: “The day these strangers came to the community, I approached them so as to know their mission. What a received as a response was embarrassment. And at the end of the day, we were chased off with cutlasses and guns”.

For Felix Okwuosa, the incident has more or less ruined him. “I started my life in this community. I have a family in this community and everything has been peaceful until the invasion of these unknown persons,” he groaned.

“There are more than seven tribes, including Yoruba, Igbo, Egun, Hausa and people from the Delta area, living in this community and all these people have families. Government collect land use charge from us. Yet whatever development that exists in this community today was achieved through communal efforts from both the Baale and the residents. Perhaps, government now wants us to be sleeping in the streets.

“Some of us built our houses with our hard earned money and loans which we are still repaying.

Pension grants

Some persons used their pension grants and gratuity to erect those structures. Yet, some unknown people are now bulldozing, excavating and fencing our houses,”he said with feeling.

Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, known as Baba Canada, also could not explain why government could not come to the rescue of residents in the estate (Palmsbay) in spite of the fact that they(residents) have over the years faithfully paid their land use charges.

On his part, the Chairman, PalmsBay Estate of Labora Ibeju-Lekki, Alhaji Balogun Abdullateef, had this to say: “We have contacted the necessary authorities, but we’re yet to get any positive response. These people said nobody can stop them. We are appealing to the state and federal governments to come to our aid. We have gone to court. We have reported the case to the police and we believe that God will help us. We have written a petition to the state government and the state house of assembly. We are going to follow it up to the letter”.

In his response, Chairman, Board of Trustees, PalmsBay Estate Resident Association, Labora, Sir Ugonna Echefu, observed thus: “We are already in a chaotic situation. The estate was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. We are peace makers, we are loyal and responsible citizens. There are doctors, lawyers, teachers, architects, business entrepreneurs who earn their daily income.

Incomes and life savings

“They have dis-organised us by invading our community and fencing us off. We don’t know them. We are appealing to the state government to come to our aid because all of us have invested heavily in this estate.

“These buildings were erected by poor people whose incomes and life savings have been invested into the estate. How do we fold our hands and allow people take our properties from us. We cannot be thrown out with our families in this democratic dispensation”.

Explaining the efforts taken by the community to address this issue, Head of Labora/Owode land, Alhaji Tolani Bakare, said: “I was in my office when I was called that some people brought caterpillar to the village and I sent one of my boys to investigate what was happening. To my surprise, they were beaten to a state of coma. When I was informed, I went to Elemoro Police Station to report the matter and the DPO gave me two policemen who accompanied me to the place. On getting there, I saw many policemen and thugs in their hundreds, grading and clearing the farmland. They said they were acting under authority. I went back to the police station. The DPO said, the case was beyond him. But we were all asked to report at the police station the following day. To my shock, neither the DPO nor those thugs attended the meeting.

“We later went to the Commissioner of Police who ordered the arrest of those thugs. Unfortunately, they were released the following day. Then we went to the High Court, Ikorodu Division and got an interim injunction. But it seems these people are more powerful than we think. They are unstoppable, they even have no respect for court order. And that is why we are calling on the Lagos state governor, Fashola Babatunde to help us. We are also appealing to President Goodluck Jonathan to act on our behalf.”