ILAMOSHE: Judgment creditor, residents agree to one-week truce

Some of the houses destroyed allegedly by the hoodlums.<br />PHOTO: AYODELE ADENIRA

THREE days after all hell was let loose on Ilamoshe community in Oke-Afa, Ejigbo area of Lagos State, there is relative calm in the troubled area after a truce was brokered by the Ejigbo police division between the judgment creditor and managing director of Nigercat Nigeria Company limited, Alhaji Akeem Oshuolale, and landlords of the affected area.

The truce, which will last a week, is to allow for property owners verify their land and title documents with the office of the Surveyor-General at the state secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja.

Other resolutions reached at the meeting, which was convened by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Ejigbo division, Superintendent of Police Segun Titiladun Ayo, and held in his office, was the setting up of a committee, comprising leaders of the six Community Development Associations (CDAs) in Ilamoshe and counsel to the judgment creditor, Patrick Arasanmi, that would work out modalities of arriving at a ratification/settlement arrangement.

The DPO, while explaining his interest in the matter, said peace is his paramount interest. After reading some sections of the judgment delivered by the Appeal Court on the disputed large expanse of land, he said: “There is nothing the police can do to prevent the judgment creditor from exercising his right. I have spoken to him and he has agreed to be magnanimous in victory. He is ready to abate his intention to fully exercise his right by repossessing the land because he is aware many of you innocently bought the land from whom you thought were the rightful owners, but it is now up to all affected landlords to also meet him halfway by approaching him for any settlement.”

One of the knotty issues that were raised at the meeting was concern by some property owners that some houses marked or destroyed were outside of the court ruling. They claimed in the judgment given by the court, only nine streets were listed in the ruling, while the judgment creditor insists it was a survey area that was subject of litigation, which were not delineated by streets.

To resolve the logjam, affected parties were advised to approach the office of the Surveyor-General to verify if their land survey is captured in the Survey Plan CD/778/77, which the court has ruled on.

“We advise those affected to get authentic survey plan from the office of the Surveyor-General of Lagos State to chart it and see if it is included in the affected area or not. He is the one that can authoritatively tell you whether your land was rightly or wrongly touched. You can’t get that from me. Each person should do their verification before approaching us,” Oshuolale said.

The lawmaker representing Oshodi/Isolo II Constituency, Jude Emeka Idimogu, who moderated the peace parley, said everything was been done to restore peace to the community. “We are here because we want a peaceful resolution to this crisis, not to entertain any further arguments on who is right or wrong because this is not a law court.

“Now that the judgment creditor has agreed to give the issue a human face and a committee has been set up to liaise on an amicable settlement. The judgment creditor has agreed to stay action for a week, which is enough time for people to verify if they are affected by the court ruling or not. We will meet again next week to resolve the findings of the committee,” he said.