Alleged Property Invasion: Lagos Firm Petitions IGP Over Demolished Structure, Missing Gate At Ikeja GRA

KINSLEY EBERE

A Lagos State-based real estate company, Nigercat Nigeria Limited, has accused operatives of the Special Enquiry Bureau, SEB, attached to the Lagos State Police Command, of unlawful invasion, demolition and removal of its property at Oduduwa Crescent, Ikeja GRA.

The company alleged that the police operatives, acting on the instruction of one Oladimeji Oladosu, stormed the property and pulled down parts of the structure before carting away its gate and installing a new one.

Chairman of Nigercat Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Osuolale, who disclosed this in Lagos, called on the Inspector General of Police, IGP Olatunji Disu, to order a comprehensive investigation into the incident and call the operatives to order.

According to Alhaji Osuolale, the action of the police amounts to taking sides in a purely civil matter without conducting a thorough investigation.

“The police in Lagos have turned themselves to agents of land grabbing before adequate investigation into whatever complaints that were reported to them,” the businessman said.

He insisted that the property located at Oduduwa Crescent, Ikeja GRA, belongs to him and his company, adding that there is no pending litigation challenging its ownership in any court.

“The property in question situated at Oduduwa Crescent, Ikeja GRA belongs to me and there is no controversy over the ownership in any court. The police have been misled by whoever wrote any petition to them,” he stated.

Giving details of the incident, Alhaji Osuolale said the police had earlier scheduled a fact-finding meeting for Monday to look into a petition filed against him over the property. However, he alleged that a day before the meeting, policemen led by Oladosu Oladimeji invaded the land.

“The police had fixed a meeting for a fact-finding mission for last Monday but surprisingly, policemen who were led by Oladosu Oladimeji invaded the property a day before Monday and demolished my property,” he alleged.

“By the time I got there on Monday, they had destroyed the property, took away my gate and erected a new gate on my property,” he added.

Alhaji Osuolale described himself as a real estate practitioner of repute, noting that he verified ownership of the property and regularized all title documents with the Lagos State Government after acquisition, including payment of statutory fees.

He explained that the petition against him was based on a claim of a ten-year lease allegedly granted by a former agent of the original owner.

“What the police are claiming to be investigating is a case of leasing. The petitioner told them that somebody leased my property to them for ten years and that the ten years is not due yet,” he said.

“The former and original owner of the property told me that he was not privy to any ten-year lease on his property,” he stressed.

According to him, the petitioner claimed that a former agent of the owner, whose power of attorney had long been revoked, leased the property to him for ten years.

Alhaji Osuolale therefore appealed to the IGP to urgently intervene and restrain the policemen from further trespassing on his property.

“They are turning themselves to land grabbers. This is purely a civil matter and instead of advising the petitioner to do the right thing, they resorted to destroying my property. After removing my gate and erecting a new one on my site, they still took my gate away from a property where the ownership is not in any dispute,” he said.

He further alleged that the police initially supervised the painting of the property by the petitioner before later demolishing his own gate.

“Initially the police supervised the painting of my property by the said petitioner and later demolished my gate and erected a new one there. They are claiming that the matter is in court but they could not answer if any of the parties in court is claiming ownership of the property,” he said.

“Those that they claimed are in court are not the owners of the property. They have disagreement over leasing over a property that does not belong to either of them,” he added.