Ajayi’s family writes Lagos agency over land grabbers’ intrusion

Some months after the death of the founder of First Foundation Hospital, Dr Olutosin Ajayi, a lawyer, Mr. Akinjide Isola, has called on the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) to intervene over intrusion on the deceased’s property by land grabbers, destroying structures erected on the land in Opebi area of Ikeja.

According to the lawyer, less than a month after Ajayi died, armed hoodlums invaded the property situated at Afolabi Awosanya Street, Opebi. “We reported to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2 Police Command at Onikan, Lagos. The police instructed them (land grabbers) to stay away from the property pending when investigations would be concluded.

“Despite the police instructions, the land grabbers mobilised themselves and went back to the land, vandalised structures, materials, and started working day and night,” he said.

Ajayi died on April 27, 2020, after a brief illness. He was the doctor who tried in vain to save the life of the renowned late journalist, Dele Giwa, after he was parcel-bombed in 1986.

The lawyer, through the petition, urged the Lagos agency to investigate the invasion. “The late Ajayi has been the legal owner of the land since 1975, which was duly registered with Lagos Land Registry as No12, at page 12 in Volume 1705 of the Register of Deeds.

“The land grabbers claimed to have obtained a court judgment since 1977. They are now enforcing the judgment with armed hoodlums and thugs, whom they brought into the land to injure, maim, and chased away the workers. They vandalised the land, demolished the fence and materials on site after the death of Ajayi.”

The matter is currently being investigated by the police and the Lagos State government.