There seems to be light at the end of the tunnels as the State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has finally intervened in the near impasse between the Magodo Estate landlords and the original landowners who are desperate to enforce the Supreme Court judgment even as police initially refused to vacate the Estate despite Sanwo-Olu intervention.

An unnamed Chief Superintendent of Police yesterday defied the order of the Lagos State Governor to vacate the Magodo Phase 2 Estate area of the state.

The CSP told the governor that he and his armed colleagues were at the estate on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba; as well as the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN).

Sanwo-Olu had led members of his cabinet to visit the residents protesting the continuous presence of armed policemen in the estate.

For days, policemen, who accompanied suspected land grabbers and members of a family who had planned to demolish property in the estate to execute a Supreme Court judgment, have besieged the estate, and the development has caused commotion at the estate as landlords and tenants become panic over their fate.

The residents had called on the governor to intervene and Sanwo-Olu told the leader of the police delegation yesterday that the land matter was a case between private individuals and the state government.

Sanwo-Olu said, “Can you call your superiors in Abuja and tell them that the governor is here and as the Chief Security Officer, you don’t have any business being in my state right now and I want you to disengage right now?”
But the unnamed CSP then replied, “I am here on the instruction of the Inspector General of Police through the AGF. I am too small or too low to call them. Your Excellency sir, you can call them sir.”

Meanwhile, Sanwo-Olu had invited all parties involved in the matter for a meeting at the state house today to possibly find lasting solution to the ongoing impasse.

Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday promised to work towards a peaceful resolution of the legal tussle over land ownership in Magodo Estate Phase Two which has become an issue of national concern.
This follows an appeal by the residents’ association on the governor to wade into the crisis that led to sundry arrests over the weekend at the estate.

Protests had followed an earlier threat of demolition of houses in the estate, with police and bulldozers moved to the area on December 21.

Meanwhile, the police later withdrew from the estate after the state intervened.
According to the Lagos government, 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 the Shangisha landlords 549 plots of land as a “matter of first priority”.

The state, however, said the verdict of the supreme court only relates to “allocation” and not “possession” of any land, and as such the Shangisha landlords have no claim to land in Magodo.

Yesterday, residents converged in front of the estate, demanding the intervention of the state government amid the threat of demolition and “police invasion”.

However, speaking to the residents, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the parties involved will meet at the state house today to sort out the issues amicably.

Sanwo-Olu said: “I had talked extensively with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Attorney-General, and we have resolved all of the issues. What we will see is that there is going to be a total standdown and tomorrow, we will be inviting the representatives of the judgement creditors.”

He added, “We have actually started a committee meeting, but I want to invite them again to my office tomorrow by 11.00 in the morning to come over with two to three of their representatives. The state government will be there; the residents’ association will be there; the police also will be there.

“We will go through every line of it and come to an amicable resolution. I beg everyone to ensure peace is restored into the estate. All of our citizens should go about their lawful business, knowing that nobody will be harassed, and properties trampled upon until all of these are brought to a final closure.”

Also present with the governor at Magodo was the state’s attorney-general and commissioner of justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo.

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Prior to the governor’s intervention, residents of the estate had converged in the precincts, demanding the intervention of the state government.

Meanwhile, following the intervention of the Lagos State Government, the police withdrew, and normalcy returned to the estate the next day.

Later, the state government, in a statement, condemned the attempt to demolish houses in the estate, vowing to prosecute invaders.
Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo, said the case dated back to the demolition of properties at Shangisha village between 1984 and 1985, after which a Supreme Court verdict ordered the state to give the Shangisha landlords 549 plots of land as a “matter of first priority”.

Onigbanjo, however, said the verdict of the supreme court only relates to “allocation” and not “possession” of any land.