Lagos state government has condemned an attempt by Shangisha Landlords Association to demolish houses in Magodo estate phase two.
Recall it was reported earlier that some persons accompanied by hoodlums, arrived at the estate with bulldozers on Tuesday evening to demolish some houses. The hoodlums marked some houses in the estate with an inscription which reads ‘ID/795/88 possession taken today 21/12/2021 by court order’.
However members of Magodo Residents’ Association (MRA) locked up the gates leading to the exit and entry points of the estate in a bid to resist what they described as “forceful takeover”.
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) who spoke on the incident, noted that the case dates back to the demolition of properties at Shangisha village between 1984 and 1985, after which a supreme court verdict ordered the state to give Shangisha landlords 549 plots of land as a “matter of first priority”.
Onigbanjo noted that the verdict of the supreme court only relates to “allocation” and not “possession” of any land.
The Lagos commissioner said between 2012 and 2015, the state government engaged the judgment creditors, and made a proposal to re-allocate land to them at Magotho Residential Scheme within Badagry area, but Adebayo Adeyiga, chairman of the Shangisha Landlords Association, rejected the state’s offer, while “majority of the judgement creditors accepted it”.
He also said “another round of settlement was initiated in 2016” with an offer of re-allocation at Ibeju Lekki area, but Adeyiga also rejected the proposal.
