By Editor

• Express willingness to negotiate Shangisha Landlords Association, Lagos, yesterday alleged persecution of the original land owners by Lagos State Government and some powerful officials.

Last week, there was unrest in Magodo estate when dozens of police officers and Shangisha Landlords Association converged at the estate’s gate to execute a court judgment.

The officials had said they were acting on a Supreme Court judgment that mandated the Lagos State Government to give back 549 plots to the original owners of the land.

Chairman, Shangisha Landlords Association, Adebayo Adeyiga, told newsmen yesterday that the crisis started in 1984 through 1986, when the state government forcefully took parcels of land belonging to the association for Magodo Phase 11 estate.

Adeyiga said the original landowners of Shangisha are being persecuted by the Lagos State Government and its officials.

According to him, the situation about Shangisha escalated in 1984, when Lagos State Government came after executive members of the association.

“Years later, the government sent its task force after the executive members, mainly myself, and others. The task force came like thugs and invaded my residence in 1994 and threw me down from my one-story building. Pa Timothy Ayanbadejo who is here today was with me and Folorunsho Adedoyin, who is no more. They beat my father who was 90 and also attacked my wife who then ran away from Nigeria.

Also speaking, lawyer of the association, Deji Fasusi said: “It is true that the court granted 549 plots of land to the judgment creditors, however, that was not all. The first order of the court to the Lagos State Government that the plaintiff should be granted first choice preferential treatment in the allocation of plots, and the second judgment was that 549 plots should be allocated to the judgment creditors.”

On the report that the government had proposed some plots of land to be given to the association in Badagry, he said: “There is no iota of truth in that report. Again, giving us another land will be against the judgment, as a matter of fact, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr. Idris Salako was with us at Magodo last week Wednesday and said the government wanted a peaceful resolution, then we told him that we were ready and we’ve been trying to reach out to prevent the narrative that we didn’t want to settle, but we haven’t got a response.”