Man Petitions IGP, AGF Over Harassment, Demolition Of Property By Alleged Land Grabbers

A Lagos based man, Mr. Sunday Osunba, has sent a petition to the Inspector-General of Police and the Attorney-General and Minister for Justice over untold harassment by suspected land grabbers whom he said also demolished his property.

P.M.EXPRESS reports that also copied was the Chairman Police Service Commission; National Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission; Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command and the Officer in Charge, IGP Monitoring, Kam Salem Lagos Island, Lagos State.

Osunba’s petition was forwarded on his behalf by the National Chairman of The Advocates for Justice, (TAJ), Comrade James Agassi (08030618031), made available to newsmen in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to the petition, Osunba who is a resident of Osunba compound, Ilogbo Eremi; Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos state has been a subject of oppression and constant intimidation in the hands of Sunday Sekoto (08023399181), Adisa Zunve (08035792957) and Gabu Sekoto (08089662253).

The petition also urged that Osunba should not be subjected to any form of harassment by the men of the Nigerian Police Force, Comrade Agassi urged that the life of client has been under constant threat, the human right activist urged that the perpetrators should be invited, arrested, interrogated and the law be allowed to take its course.

Also, Comrade Agassi urged that men and officers of the Nigeria Police Force connected to the case be advised and warned not to aid criminality “because threats to life and destruction of properties cannot be handled with kid-gloves since they’re criminal in nature.

“That our client’s safety is threatened since the police could choose to get involved while the matter was still civil. The empirical facts show that our client would not get fair treatment from the police formation having the primary jurisdiction, so we pray that you use your good office to provide him protection by making the culprits undertake for his safety.

Commenting on the claim of Osunba to the said parcel of land, Comrade Agassi wrote that “Our client is Mr. Sunday Osunba is the Administrator of some parcels of land in the aforementioned area and we write to intimate you with a perceived intimidation of our client by the above mentioned persons who are supposed to be boundary neighbours with him.”

Reviewing the case, Comrade Agassi said, his client was forced to erect a structure on a parcel of the land after a series of attempts to depossess Osunba of the land but one of the natives told him he should have informed them before doing so.

He further added that the response of Osunba who stated that his action is not subjected to anybody’s approval further drew the ire of his traducers who eventually connived with some personnel of Morogbo Police Station.

Comrade Agassi on behalf of Osunba also flayed the police for mishandling the case which he described as a civil matter in a manner that suggests that it (the police) is trying to pervert justice in favour of the oppressors in a way that would criminalise his client.

“Our client said the next thing he got after that encounter was an invitation letter from Morogbo police station to see the officer in charge of Anti-cultism.

“Our client smelled foul play as the Anti-cultism invitation of the Nigeria Police betrayed a malicious intention to corrupt the original nature of the case and change from CIVIL to CRIMINAL. To this end, we then petitioned the police authority to constrain the officers and men at Morogbo police station from delving into civil matters.