By James Orji
For more than 37 years, landowners under the aegis of Landlord Association of Shangisha /Magodo fought a serious legal battle with the Lagos state government to have their lands which had been forcefully seized returned to them.
The state government had in 1984 seized over 500 plots of lands from the landlords on the pretext that such will be used to build an international standard hospital for the people of the state.
The hospital was never built, rather the state government allocated the choice lands to cronies and government officials, thus forcing the former land owners to go to court to challenge to seek redress.
But when the landlords sued the state government, they were mocked by some state officials who said they will not be alive to witness the end of the case. The officials did everything in their powers to ensure that the illegality was not reversed.
As it turned out many years after, all the attempts to frustrate the efforts of the landowners have now collapsed like a pack of cards. The mill of justice grinded slowly for the landowners, particularly after the state government refused, for years, to implement court judgments on the matter, but the decision of the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration to allocate over 500 plots of land as replacement for the lands forcefully seized from them in 1984 is indeed, a suiting balm for their long suffering.
On Tuesday, Governor Sanwo-Olu assured the residents and other stakeholders of Magodo and Shangisa that the state government has decided to resolved the matter amicably. The government said it has set up a committee that will advise it on how to allocate new plots of land to the landowners, in a mutually agreeable location.
Sanwo-Olu said: “From Friday, they (committee) will be working with the stakeholders, identifying available plots of land around Shangisha areas, a drone will be flown, surveys will be made and available plots will be identified.
“In the event that available plots are identified, allocations will be made timely and additional plots, if we don’t have the right numbers, will also be identified at mutually agreeable locations with the other stakeholders.
‘’The government will also review the list of all the allottees, 549 of them, and we will ensure that the injustice the Shangisha Landlords Association had suffered for 38 years, is restituted”.
The settlement did not come on a platter. It took more than three decades of tortuous legal battle, which started from the trial court in 1984, to the Court of Appeal and eventually terminated at the Supreme Court, for the issue to be resolved.
Indeed, critics of the Lagos state government said it had the opportunity to resolve the land matter after the courts ruled in favour of the landowners many years ago, but failed to do so until the matter resulted in violence recently after the landowners resolve to self-help.
The matter got to a head two weeks ago after the landowners, with the help of the Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and the Inspector General of Police, IGP decided to take possession of their lands as ordered by the apex court in 2012.
For days, residents of the estate were at the mercy of the original land owners who locked them out of their homes and offices as they marked buildings on the occupied plot of lands for demolition in a bid to take possession.
The issue also took turn for the worse, on Tuesday, after Governor Sanwo-Olu had a confrontation with the team of policemen deployed from Abuja to enforce the Supreme Court judgment. The governor’s order to the leader of the team, a chief superintendent of Police, CSP to vacate the area was bluntly rebuffed by the officer.
Meanwhile, the state government, said in a statement on Wednesday, that it has agreed with the land owners on how to resolve the disputed land matte once and for all.
The statement reads in part, ”at a meeting chaired by Mr. Governor, Mr. Babajide Olusola-Sanwo-Olu, at the State House Alausa, on the 5th of January 2022 with the Judgment Creditors (Shangisha Landlords’ Association), their lawyers, Commissioner of Police Lagos State Command, Policemen from the F.C.T Command and Police Headquarters, the Executive and Trustees of the Magodo Residents’ Association and senior Government Officials, the enforcement of Judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on the 10th of February 2012 in suit no. SC/112/2002 was deliberated upon and the following resolutions were arrived at:
“That the Committee set up by the State Government to resolve the Magodo dispute, chaired by the Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, is to meet with the Judgment Creditors (Shangisha Landlords’ Association) on Friday 7th of January 2022.
“The Surveyor- General of Lagos State, Permanent Secretary Lands Bureau and Hon. Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development are to immediately identify available plots of land within the Shangisha village scheme.
“The Committee is also to identify how the available plots of land are to be accessed and whether any infrastructural development is necessary to access the land.
“Upon identification of available and accessible land, the State Government is to immediately allocate the land to the 549 Judgment Creditors.
“In the event that there is no available and accessible land within the Shangisha village scheme to allocate to all the 549 Judgment Creditors, the State Government, in agreement with the Judgment Creditors, will provide alternative plots of land.
“Whilst this exercise is ongoing, the Nigeria Police are to restrain themselves from any conduct or action that may instigate violence or breakdown of law and order in Magodo. They should be keepers of peace and act within the confines of the law – always. All the parties have agreed to an amicable resolution of the matter.
“The meeting ended with Mr. Governor thanking all for attending and restating his resolve to ensure that peace returns to Magodo and that there is justice for all.
“The attendees praised the Governor for showing “good leadership”, which they said prevented violence in the estate. Besides, they expressed confidence in the Governor’s ability and sincerity to resolve the matter,” the statement said.
