PROPERTY NEWS

AN on-going demolition exercise at the Ayobo area of Lagos State has been drawing criticism and emotion among affected communities, notably Ishefun, Oshin and Hassan, all in the old Alimosho Local Government area.

The sources of controversy over the exercise, The Guardian learnt, include issues related to the ownership of the affected land, allegations of non-conformity to laid down regulations by the developers, and the involvement of the traditional land owners popularly called Omo-oniles concerning their alleged connivance with some unscrupulous government officials among others.

At the moment, three government agencies, namely, the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC), the Ministry of Housing and the Lagos State Co-operative Society, all reportedly own parts of the vast land, which size a source in the state Lands Bureau put at 150 Hectares.

At Ishefun for instance, the affected community leaders have accused government officials of "double dealing".

According to the spokesperson of the Ishefu-Oshin Community Development Association, Alhaji Moruf Ajijola, the controversy over the area has spanned more than 15 years, "as every effort to regularise our documents has been hindered one way or the other by government officials," he said.

According to Ajijola, "when in 2003, at the peak of his election campaign in the council area, the former governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was confronted over the issue, he assured us that he was going to address the issue in our favour, asking us to compile the number and the names of the land owners, which was forwarded to Alausa". He said it was this development that encouraged many of them to intensify their efforts to build at the required standards, so they that would not be classified as squatters, in the way the area was previously known.

The association accused government officials in the Land Bureau of misleading the current administration on the status of the area and the true position of their predicament. To them, The Ministry of Housing, which officials claimed to have made the "Ishefun allocation," had already commenced its housing project at its own site, "so, the claim that we trespassed on the Housing Ministry's estate cannot be true."

According to the group, their inability to get their document regularised was as a result of the official attitude, which they described as "very frustrating."

They claimed that they had written several letters and sent different representations to meet the governor, Raji Fashola, but that the efforts were unsuccessful till last week when the demolition exercise started.

The demolition exercise last week, The Guardian learnt came up following the inability of government to meet the demands by allottees who had paid for its schemes in various locations and those that had legitimate reasons to receive land compensation.

Although, the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Francisco Bolaji Abosede, whose office is overseeing the demolition, said that the displaced occupants were illegal squatters, the affected land, according to him, was under government acquisition and notices to quit the place had been issued to them long ago.

At the Ministry of Lands, The Guardian was unable to ascertain the real owners of the land. Although Alhaji Moshood Adebisi, an Assistant Director in the Information department of the ministry, admitted that allocations were made to some agencies, he was not in position to determine who or which agency had been given the allocations.

The Guardian was informed that it was only the Permanent Secretary, who was said to be outside the country that could speak authoritatively on the matter.

Also, at the Ministry of Housing, the spokesperson for the ministry, Mr. Sina Odunuga speaking for the Commissioner, Mr. Dele Onabokun, absolved the ministry of blame, saying that it had nothing to do with the demolitions, "since the ministry has commenced its own projects on its site. Indeed, the ministry has nothing to do with the affected location, neither did it order the demolition".

However, a non-governmental organisation going by the name 'Protection of Citizens' Rights Group' has urged the state government to explain the true position of things.

"Resolving the true ownership of the land would have cleared the allegations by the affected land owners that government officials proposed to give the land that belongs to any of its agencies to some individuals, since such step could raise dust in the future", said the group's Samuel Adenugba.

The group, like others, is requesting that everyone should be given the same opportunities as some people who's buildings escaped demolition and were allowed to pay a penalty fee.

By last Friday, the demolition exercise was still on-going. Among the few that escaped the exercise were the residents of the co-operatives' estate and those who were alleged to have complied with the regularisation order and allegedly paid a N250,000 fine.