By Tunde Abatan
From Ota to Ado-Odo, Ilaro,Ifo, Owode to Abeokuta and Mowe Ibafo axis,it is a trail of violence,blood and sorrow as hoodlums operating in the guise of Land grabbers reign their terror on citizens.
Land grabbers are by local definition,Ajagungbale,are armed thugs and miscreants backed traditional.institutions and unofficialy by state operatives who pounced on undeveloped lands, dispossessing original owners and sell it to speculators and real estate developers.
In Ogun state you don’t have to be sons of the sob to become a Land grabbers. Once you have the wherewithal in terms of thugs,charms,working tools like guns , machetes and other dangerous weapons,you are good to go. Grabbers came from far and near like Ondo,Ekiti,Oyo and even nearby Lagos.
Majority of those visiting mayhem in Ogun state today are those displaced by enforcement of Lagos Anti-Land grabbing laws by the present and two previous administrations of Babatunde Raji Fashola ,Akinwunmi Ambode and incumbent Babajide Sanwoolu .
They rolled out punitive laws which are implemented to the letter.
Since the clampdown by Lagos,the gusto with which they operate in Ogun state has increased since 2019.
Hence,today the grabbers had no alternative than to pour into nearby Ogun which from indication has liver to stomach lawlessness and continue their reign of blood and sorrow both on original land inheritors and new owners dispossessing at will.
They operate with dangerous weapons and indeed form militia with enough resources to challenge even security forces.
This is in spite of the passage and signing into law the by the Ogun state House of Assembly,in 2017.
The Bill which prohibits Forcible occupation of Landed properties was signed into law by the Ogun governor Ibikunle Amosun.
If found guilty,culprits are sentenced to 25years behind bars.
But today,seven years after,no single person has been arrested and arraigned by the state government.
The result is the gang of land grabbers has grown in whims and caprices,seizing land,dispossessing original owners and in it’s trail blood and violence reigned.
Indeed,Adewale Olufemi,leader of Private Practising Surveyors of Nigeria,an arm of the Institution of Surveyors of Nigeria(NIS) says the Anti land grabbing law is as useless and ineffective as an ordinary paper.
As for him,”the law only allows the law enforcement agencies especially the police to extort them”.
This is evident since the state government since 2019 shows lack of interest and capacity to enforce its own laws.
Olufemi observed that the abnomalities and ugly trends which the law is expected to address have worsened even with the existence of the law.
Section 3(2)4 of the law criminalise the force full take over of land in Ogun state and section 3(3)of the law prescribes a 25 year prison term for a person convicted for violating provisions of section 3(1) and (2) of the law.
Today,the law is as good as the paper on which it is written.no arrest and no prosecution but plenty of deprived citizens and land owners who are at the mercy of a government not committed to enforcing its own law.
Chief A Sowunmi,a retiree and community leader in Ogun state observed that the issue of Land grabbing which has assumed a life of its own and spreading all over Ogun state.
Said he,”They have been driven from Lagos and they now find their haven in Ogun. They have association and have serious connection with police and even the courts. We voted for All Progressives Congress,APC,here and we expect the House of Assembly and the Governor to do everything to make the anti grabbing law bite. No single person has been convicted in Ogun since Amosun signed the Bill into law therefore no detterent.
A version of Boko Haram is festering in Ogun.Peace have no life here” he concluded.
Indeed,the land grabbers multiplying in geometric progression in Ogun state,also carried their atrocity to spiritual enclave as they enroached on the territory of the Redeemed Christain Church of God,City,RCCG City, situated along kilometre 46, Lagos -Ibadan express road seizing church land. This is despite the fact that all the families which laid claims to the vast land were verified and paid huge sums by the church leadership.
Payment it was gathered was effected after Pastor Adeboye and Church board has carried out exhaustive negotiations involving the original families.
In apparent frustration of the inability to rein in the Ajagungbales,General Overseer of RCCG,Pastor Adeboye disclosed at the Ministers Conference of the church held on Saturday August 4th that the church board has approved the setting up of it’s own top notch Security network headed by a retired General and assisted by retired Deputy Inspector General of Police,Leye Oyebade.
Their job is to improve the present security in place and to tackle the land grabbers headlong saying,”From henceforth it is now fire for fire. We are ready to meet them force with force. Enough is Enough”, the respected clergy declared.
This effort is to complement the Police command which already had a station situated in the Holy City.
To corroborate Sowunmi and Adeboye and other voiceless deprived citizens,Abimbola Oyeyemi,former Police Public Relations Officer,PPRO describes Land grabbers as “,more or less armed robbers “.
He said that though the Anti-Land grabbing Bill has criminalised the Act which attracts a 25 years jail term without option of fine for those who violate it ,nobody has been tried .
But if a former police boss can admit failure to stop land grabbing Who can?
Why is the law difficult to enforce in the state seven years after it’s passage.
This our report gathered are caused by several extraneous factors like the lumping of the law with Kidnapping and Cultism.
Towards this end,it was gathered,a Judicial Committee has been set up by the Speaker of the State Assembly and has started working to separate Land-grabbing as a separate law.
Another factor militating against the effectiveness of the law is that the Land-grabbers always find a black sheep in the community or a family to issue “fake receipt or agreement” behind which they hide to call themselves “developers”.
In this instance,government lands in Obafemi Owode LG and even the land acquired for the development of Stadium Facilities in Ilaro,in Yewa North local government has been taken over and sold to unsuspecting people by land-grabbers.
Another serious factor is the alleged connivance of the Police establishment which complicity stems from local stations receiving orders from AIG’s and DIG’s in Abuja as they work hand -in – hand with the Ajagungbales.
Therefore, the source said, Commissioners of Police,CPs and the rank and file play along,hiding under the excuse, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
In this case, it was alleged that some Officers and Divisional Police Officers,DPO’s and Area Commanders are specifically posted to Ogun and Lagos States for land matters due to the subtle backing received by the grabbers from headquarters to enable them operate untouched.
This development explains why Ogun state has the highest land tussle issues in the whole country.
Sources revealed that where a CP is stubborn, Zone 2 and Alagbon and Force Headquarters Annex, Alagbon are used for sitting on land matters.
To ensure this is done, Signals are specifically issued to collect files from investigating departments and are sat upon while the thugs have field day.
Another source of strength is the state judiciary which is also often compromised.
Starting with the police prosecutors,most aren’t properly prepared for the job of prosecution in terms of adequate training.
To compound the situation, there are no provisions for facilities to gather evidence and are often intimidated by the land-grabbers and other organized criminal gangs. More so,the grabbers are too familiar with criminal defense lawyers who are known to compromise the prosecutors or overwhelm them by points of law in magistrate courts.
In most cases, the Magistrates’ hands are ‘tied’ with points of law and often show their frustration with the Police Prosecutors.
On the other hand, the Correctional facilities are compromised in bringing criminal to court or lack of vehicles.
Often, relatives of detainees standing trials pay Prison Wardens “transport fares”.
Where a case is in the High Court, the Department of Public Prosecution often lacks facilities to bring into the courts crucial witnesses for several adjourned matters forcing the Judge at some point to strike out four or five years matters.
Worst still are situations where it is alleged that some few judges have very close relationships with smugglers and land-grabbers thus impacting on allocation of cases and eventual outcomes.
This ought to be investigated by judicial panels.
Perhaps this factors made Ogun Governor,Dapo Abiodun to throw up his hand last week by appealing to Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Ari Mohammed Ali,who paid him a courtesy call.
According to Abiodun, a situation where cases of land grabbing are brought to Zone 2 instead of state police commissioner,is a way of avoiding prosecution as such cases are ‘dismissed’ or even compromised by lack of proper prosecution.
Short of indicting the police system, Abiodun,told the AIG,to revert the suspect system if by passing state CPs.
In this wise,the governor is saying that Police system are culpable in sustaining the evil in Ogun state.
The Governor also hinted on the decision to invite the acting Inspector General Tunji Egbetokun to the state to launch it’s Surveilance drones to locate black spots in the state and reduce impact of Cultism and Kidnapping.
It is instructive that this is the first time Abiodun is publicly admitting and talking about dangers land grabbing and associated crimes in the state also bogged down by infrastructural deficits.
Observers of the operations of Police in the state believes Abiodun is right in taking the alleged complicity of Police in the high rate of Land grabbing in the state.
Governor Abiodun may also be saying to the AIG and police Authorities that there is need to avoid a situation whereby an AGENT who is arrested would call Abuja or other Senior officers to soliciting help may be part of the difficulties in nibbing in the bud, Land grabbing in the state .
His message to the AIG on procedures in handling land grabbing crime in the state is indicative of his distrust in Policing operations in the state.
Abiodun may reveal more if Egbetokun eventually come to the state as being requested.
Besides the Governor,the Speaker of the state house of Assembly, Rt.Honourable Olakunle Oluomo is also kick-starting the process of amending the Land-Grabbing law to be able to make it effective and possibly separate it from Cultism and associated crimes.
However, many believe the Judiciary must also be investigated and out on its toes if the law must work and menace must stop.
There is an urgent need to hire more Judges to avoid delays in Justice presently happening.
Where a judge has about forty or more cases on the book, it can be overwhelming and where lawyers are not sanctioned for using delay tactics despite front-loading system in use, it is certain that governance will continue to suffer people in the areas of law and order.
Indeed, fighting Land grabbing which has assumed a life of its own in the state clearly requires multi pronged approach and one of the long term solution is state policing which agitation has been in the front burner in the country fir the past twenty years.
It is clear as crystal ball that only a multi-policing system can arrest the societal problems and decay caused by Land grabbing, Cultism,armed robbery and other crimes in states of the country especially in view of economic difficulties which itself has aided criminal tendencies.
