If the purported plan by the late Abdul Hammed Ojo family is anything to go by, then the people of Ilamose community in Oke-Afa, Ejigbo, in the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area of Lagos State may witness a breach of their peace.
The family is angry over the non-execution of the judgments given in their favour several years ago by a high court and an appellate court on the parcel of land left behind by their late patriarch.
In a petition written on their behalf by their counsel, Dei Gratia Chambers and addressed to the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, the Commissioner of Police, Solicitor –General, Surveyor-General, Permanent Secretary, Land Bureau of Lagos State, Chairman, Task Force, Yinka Egbeyemi, a superintendent of police and other relevant agencies, they expressed regret over the nonexecution of the judgments since they were delivered.
They wondered why the state government had yet to act inspite of the several correspondences sent to the office of the governor, both past and present, and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, blaming some powerful personalities in the executive arm of the Lagos State and some top brass of the police for being sympathetic with their contenders, striving to deny them their inheritance.
“Is it not governmental stultifying when a court of competent jurisdiction gives an order and the machinery of the executive arm is involved in an act capable of frustrating the efficacy of the order?” the family asked.
However, the Lagos State Government, in a letter No. 11/ DAS.S.3227/108, dated June 17, 2014, appended to on behalf of the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice by one Mosunmola Osikoya, and addressed to Dei Gratia Chambers, advised them to cause the requisite forms for enforcement of judgment as prescribed in the 2012 Lagos State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules to be issued and thereafter liaise with Sheriff’s Department.
In another memo LJ/ DAS.S.3227/108 to the law chambers, which was in response to the petition dated October 15, 2015, where they complained again of inability to enforce the judgment delivered in their client’s favour, S.A Quadri Esq, the Director, Directorate of Advisory Services and Judicial Liaison, counseled that the lawyers should, on behalf of their client, file a Writ of Possession in the court for the purpose of executing the judgment.
He referred them to the case of Government of Gongola State Vs Tukur (1989) 4 NWLR Part 117, Page 592 at Page 608 paragraph (G), even as he submitted that there was no justifiable reason for government to take up the execution of this judgment, not being a party to the suit.
This utterance by the government, to the Ojo Family, has further fueled their presumption that there are some powerful forces in the government giving vent to the recent plans by those who want to rob them of their rights.
They alleged that one Mr. Apatira, a notorious land grabber, in concert with Messrs Dele Olokobi, Tunde Odunnewu and Wasiu Shonola, said to be the son of the 3rd defendant, had employed the services of hoodlums and street urchins, armed with dangerous weapons, to now keep vigil on the said parcel of land and daring any member of the Ojo family to come near the site.
They affirmed that the recent incidence of rape, assault, dealings in illicit drugs like Indian hemp and cocaine were linked to these groups, stressing they were very common in areas branded “AK-47” and “Val Centre”.
Averring further, he said they, on their part, held on to the tenacious belief that the governor, as a staunch advocate of the rule of law and separation of powers, would never allow the machinery of the executive arm of the state, under whatever guise, to constitute a clog in the wheel of justice by frustrating the execution of the said judgment.
“If the defendants in the said erstwhile disputed land cannot respect the Memorandum of Understanding we all appended our signature on, including the royal father, HRM Oba Adisa Ojoola, the Ojoon of Ejigbo and Igan land, and still resort to the use of force, then we have no option than to take possession of our land in the way it will suit all,” the Ojo family said.
