No fewer than 30 suspected land grabbers on Monday invaded the Gateway Zone Estate in the Magodo GRA Phase 1 area of Lagos State.
We gathered that the hoodlums used a truck in conveying a bulldozer into the estate on the pretext of going to work on a building site.
After gaining entry, it was learnt that the bulldozer was offloaded and the operator suddenly advanced in the direction of Ayo Fasugba Street on the estate to demolish the surrounding fence.
A guard, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a man had pretended to be building on the estate.
“It was when they started demolishing the fence on Ayo Fashugba Street that their plan was revealed. So, I informed the chairman and other executive members of the estate about the development,” he added.
The Chairman-elect of the Gateway Zone Community Development Association, Ayo Fasugba, decried the demolition of the estate’s property.
He said, “After estate residents used their vehicles to block the bulldozer from leaving, we informed the police and the land grabbers ran away; but the operator was arrested.
“What happened is that a gorge encircles the estate and there are several access routes to the gorge. We had a struggle with the land grabbers when they tried to access the gorge through Ifeoluwa Daniel Street to build an estate there.
“Earlier in the year, another set of people sponsoring the land grabbers approached the CDA with the intent to create an access road to the gorge through Ayo Fasugba Road, but we declined. The place was fenced and there was no access road there. So, they left, only to return today (Monday); they started using a tractor to demolish the fence.
“After the demolition, we realised that the land grabbers had erected a gate behind the demolished fence. Over 30 land grabbers gained entry through unauthorised means and they never produced any legal documentation backing their action.”
The Chairman of the estate, Bode Ojomu, urged the state Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to intervene in the matter.
He said, “In Magodo, we have had several landslides occasioned by water trying to find its level.
“Lately, the 21-storey building that collapsed in Ikoyi has to do with the official negligence of people taking laws into their hands without recourse to the authorities of the state governor to administer the state peacefully.
“In the Gateway Zone in Magodo, we have had different engagements with the executive arm of this government and their reaction that the area is a wetland and cannot be approved for housing development is in the media.
“But the House of Assembly is working at cross purposes with the state government by giving these people strength to the point that they were emboldened to remove our caveat emptor alerting people to beware of the wetland.
“The oversight functions of the House of Assembly have been taken too far. We were supposed to meet with them in October, but they ignored us. They only went to assess the Ayo Fasugba Road and after assessing it, they went to the gorge. Now, the land grabbers came to demolish our border at Ayo Fasugba so the land grabbers can have access to build in the gorge.”
The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, said access road was the cause of the “misunderstanding.”
“The police have intervened and warned both parties to maintain the peace, while the area commander will further look into the matter tomorrow (Tuesday),” he added. ,,
