The landlords lamented their losses as the Taskforce pulled down their buildings, and rendered them homeless.
Landlords of Oluwa Palace community, in the Ibeju Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State, have accused policemen of the Lagos State Environment and Special Offences Enforcement Unit of demolishing their houses.
Stating that the policemen and hoodlums in the area were responsible for demolishing their houses, the landlords lamented that they have now been rendered homeless.
It was gathered that recently, the policemen alongside the hoodlums stormed the community with bulldozers and destroyed structures numbering about 50.
The buildings that were pulled down included -houses, and shops, and they were all reportedly valued millions of naira.
Lamenting the invasion and demolition, the landlords said they were not issued a notice, adding that they had been traumatized ever since.
One of the affected landlords, Monday Ajanubor said he was on a sick bed and making plans to move to his newly-built house when he was informed about the demolition.
“Because my rent was about to expire, I was doing everything possible to ensure that I move into my new house on this land. I sold my cars to put the house in order. Now they called me to say that the house I spent all my life savings on has been demolished,” he added.
Speaking on the incident, Nurudeen Oluwa, the Head of the Community, explained that following a legal dispute between his family and Lagos State government, the court issued a warrant of possession to his family.
“We took the state government to court in 2009 when it attempted to take over the land. We knew then that there was no way to lawfully challenge the government other than going to court.
“In 2018, the court delivered judgment in our favour, and the judgment was registered at Alausa. Before we moved into the land, they gave us a certificate of warrant of possession. We have been living here since 2018, and members of the family also built their houses here, until the invasion,” he added.
Reacting to the landlords’ claims, the spokesperson of the Taskforce, Gbadeyan Abdulraheem said the agency’s officials only carried out an executive order.
