By Olasunkanmi Akoni

The owner of Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, CCC, Olaiya Bethel Parish, Oko Agbon, Iwaya, Makoko area of Lagos, Prophet Olanrewaju Olaiya, has called on State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for intervention over what he termed unlawful demolition of property by state agents.

Olaiya accused officials of the Lagos State Building Control Agency, LASBCA, and the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development of carrying out the demolition.

He stated that people claiming to be government officials, accompanied by armed police officers, stormed the area on Thursday and demolished the property, despite an ongoing unresolved land ownership dispute.

Speaking to newsmen over the incident, Olaiya, who took newsmen on a spot assessment of the damage, narrated that he was not around the premises of the church when he received a distress call informing him that the building was being demolished.

According to the cleric, “Spontaneously, I rushed to the scene and met about 14 officials of the state agencies alongside armed policemen carrying out the exercise.

“I was confronted with the sight of armed policemen and officials of the state agencies. We hurriedly removed some of the items we could salvage before they broke the walls and destroyed major parts of the church.

“Since the demolition, we have not really had any worship service. I do not know where we will worship henceforth.

“Many members have been displaced, including those who were in seclusion within the church premises. It has affected us spiritually and mentally.

“This is a rude shock and so devastating. Church activities have been severely disrupted.”

The cleric, however, suspected foul play, saying that vested interests and suspected land grabbers might have influenced the actions of the state agencies.

Olaiya therefore called on the Lagos State Government to investigate the matter.

“We are told we are in a democracy, but the way we are being treated suggests otherwise.

“We use this medium to appeal to the State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to investigate the role of alleged land grabbers and government agents in this matter with a view to providing justice for us,” he added.

Also speaking, the Chief Security Officer of the estate, Mr Rotimi Karounwi, claimed that the officials arrived at about 2 p.m. with armed policemen and allegedly forced their way into the premises.

“They harassed one of my security guards and entered without informing us where they were going.

“Shortly afterwards, the shepherd rushed to the church. The officials then began demolishing the building while residents watched helplessly,” Karounwi alleged.

He said all entreaties by residents and passers-by with the officials to stop the demolition fell on deaf ears in an operation that lasted less than 30 minutes before the team departed.

According to him, the officials claimed they were acting on directives from higher authorities.

The landlord of the property, Mr Olufemi Akali, linked the demolition to a longstanding ownership dispute involving the Rufai family.

Akali alleged that after the death of his father, some members of the Rufai family began efforts to reclaim and resell the property despite what he described as an earlier purchase agreement.

He said the matter had previously been reported to the state’s anti-land grabbing agency and the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, where his family presented documents supporting their ownership claims.

“They told us that the Rufai family had alleged that we were the land grabbers, but after reviewing the evidence, the case was dismissed,” he said.

Akali stated that officials from the ministry later visited the property after a developer reportedly sought approval to develop the land.

According to him, the family subsequently submitted title documents to the ministry and was awaiting feedback when some individuals allegedly visited the property on June 18 to take photographs and videos.

“We asked them what their mission was, but they became confrontational. They claimed that one Kuburat Rufai sent them to inspect the property,” he alleged.

Akali added that the visitors were taken to Sabo Police Station, where they allegedly threatened to return and demolish structures on the property.

The property owners further disclosed that they received a 24-hour removal notice dated June 17 from the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development and that the demolition was carried out the following day.

However, solicitor to the Rufai family, Barrister Garba Hakeem Babalola, rejected the allegations, maintaining that the Akali family were tenants and that the property was never sold to their late father.

“The property in question was given to the Akali family on rent. Their father pleaded that he had nowhere to live. The place was a swamp, and he promised to help my client’s father reclaim it, so it was given to him.

“He lived there for over 30 years. The property has registered title documents, including a Certificate of Occupancy, and the owner is still very much alive. The Akali family occupied the land without paying rent for many years.

“At one point, some members of the Rufai family approached him to buy the property, but he declined. He built a church and shops on the land and collected rent from tenants.

“Since he was collecting rent, my client’s father decided that he should also pay rent to the family.

“He subsequently paid in bits as rent, but there was never any agreement to sell the land to him.

“The holder of the Certificate of Occupancy was unaware of the developments on the property until the man’s death.

“We were surprised when his children claimed that their father had bought the land. They are pursuing an unjust cause because the land belongs to the Rufai family,” Babalola said.

Meanwhile, spokesperson for the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mrs Titi Oshodi, when contacted by the journalist, denied any involvement by officials of the ministry in the demolition.

“We don’t get involved with land grabbers. We don’t do that for any reason. There are two different offices in the ministry.

“There is Physical Planning, and there is Urban Development. Those officials who came for the demolition could not have been from us. They could be from the Building Control Agency or Urban Development,” she said.