Lagos Assembly denies and secret land dealings at Magodo, warns against smear campaign

The Lagos State House of Assembly has denied the allegations in the media of its secret approval of lands to the Ojoko Family in Magodo GRA phase one, describing it as concocted, unfounded and spurious.

Refuting the allegation at a press briefing at the Assembly complex, the chairman, House Committee On Lands, Hon. Richard Kasunmu, explained the investigation processes and procedures which the committee went through on the land tussle between Ojoko family and Magodo GRA Phase 1 Gateway Zone Community Development Area (CDA), stressed that the executives of the CDA boycotted severally, meetings initiated by the Committee.

The lawmaker disclosed that the allegation of secret approval came to him, as well as members of the committee who read on the pages of newspapers, as a shock that the Assembly had made secret approval of land to the Ojoko family.

Hon. Kasumu explained that it was not part of the House rules for a committee to take resolution on behalf of the Assembly, saying the committee can only make recommendations which would be submitted to the Assembly when the House resumes from recess.

“It will be very wrong for the Magodo Zone CDA to blackmail and wrongly accuse this noble House of Assembly of secretly approving a land to the Ojoko family when we are yet to present before the Assembly, the report of our investigation.

As a committee, we cannot make resolution on the land tussle but can only make recommendations to the House for the 40 members House to deliberate on and make recommendations and resolution. I am therefore, telling you authoritatively that we (committee) did not secretly approve any land,” the lawmaker stated.

While making further clarification, Hon. Kasumu said the CDA was using the instrumentality of the association to frustrate the investigation by the committee, stressing that it would be malicious for the CDA to have resulted to media blackmailing.

Meanwhile, in a petition forwarded to the House of Assembly by the Ojoko family of Olowo-Ira, Magodo, dated 14th November, 2019, through their counsel, the GV Chambers, the family claimed that they had been the owner of the vast land from time immemorial and had always exercised maximum acts of ownership thereon.

 “It is trite knowledge that the Land Use Act dispossessed various land owning families including ours of proprietary ancestral inheritance for public use and common good. It is also knowledge that whenever and wherever this is done, an official gazette will be issued by the government specifying the extent of acquisition. This was done and an excision was subsequently granted to our family in the wisdom of the Lagos State government for the use of the family and our future generations,” the family stated.

The family further explained that they were however, shocked, and utterly disturbed by publications of injurious falsehood emanating from one Oyebode Ojomu describing the property first as a designated green zone.

“What is of grave concern to us as lawyers and to our clients is the further involvement of New Towns Development Authority (NTDA), a high ranking official in this vitriolic and unfounded campaign of brash calumny. To further aggravate a bad situation, under the advice of NTDA the so called CDA Chairman has proceeded to lock out our clients from accessing their property,” the petition reads in part.

The family accused the CDA of conceiving the notion of appropriating the expanse of land belonging to the family.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the CDA, Oyebode Ojomu, in a letter written and addressed to the Chairman, House Committee on Land Matters, dated 7th of January, 2020 apologised and excused the CDA from representation at the meeting saying that all they needed to say on the land tussle had already been expressed at the last meeting.

“We averred that in law, we do not know the petitioners and since our Mandate is limited to Gateway Zone Estate in which the principals of the petitioner has no ‘locus standi’ and we as a community not inclined to join any issues with the petitioner for whatever reasons,” the letter from the CDA to the committee reads in part.

The CDA stressed that its contention would be LASG to see reasons that the adjoining canal to Gateway Estate Magodo GRA Phase 1 and 2, Otedola and Implementation Phase 2 Estate remain a wetland described as Gorge in the LASG/NTDA masterplan which environmentalist describes as Green Belt Zone.

“In an era of climate change and evident errors of government with Isheri North Scheme, Lekki Areas and the landslide, we had experienced in Magodo, to keep mute and not voice out the dangers inherent in a planned environmental hazards and degradation that endangered our lives and properties to support government to take the right decisions to save lives will be criminal negligence on our part,” the CDA stated.