The people of Ayobo Community in Lagos State will stage a protest march over the violence, allegedly visited on the them and their property by one Moruf Owonla, popularly known as Kaka.
The protest will take them to Lagos State House of Assembly, Alausa, Ikeja and the Lagos State House.
The people who are operating under the aegis of the different Community Development Associations in Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area of Lagos State, said the protest was to draw the attention of the world to their plight.
The peaceful procession, the people said, would take off from the Muslim praying ground at Bada in Ayobo, and proceed to the Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area Secretariat, Ayobo.
From there, the procession will move to the Lagos State House of Assembly where the leaders of the CDAs will present a petition to the Speaker of the House, Mudashiru Obasa, and to the Lagos State House, where the petition shall be presented to Governor Babajide Sanwoolu.
The protesters explained the situation surrounding their actions in a letter made available to FrontPage, which reads in part:
“We are accredited representatives of the people (residents and owners of real properties) of Ayobo, Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area of Lagos State. We function through our Community Development Associations (CDAs).
“These CDAs are Alaja CDA, Isokan CDA, Lala CDA, Koloba Central CDA, Onikanga Central CDA, Liberty CDA, Onikanga Phase 1 CDA, Otitoloju CDA, Progressive CDA, Treasure land CDA, Megida CDA, Megida/Kufor CDA, Bada CDA, Balogun CDA, and Great Harmony CDA.
“For over a decade, unspeakable violence has been visited on the people of Our Community and our properties by Moruf Owonla (Kaka), who for some time claimed to be acting for and on behalf of Late Ekundayo Arimiyau Bello and Princess Josephine Momoh (Late Ekundayo Arimiyau Bello’s agent), but who is now claiming to be acting in his own behalf. The theatre of this violence comprises over seventy-nine built up streets, where over 600,000 people live !
“The pretext for this incessant violence is the purported and perennial execution of a Court Judgment obtained in Suit No. ID/1722/92 (Chief Arimiyau Bello Ekundayo v. Taiwo Ogunbiyi & 12 Ors), delivered on the 29th day of October 2004, by Hon. Justice O.A. Williams of Court No. 7 in the Lands Division of the Ikeja Judicial Division of the High Court of Lagos state. Apart from the fact that land and property owners in Ayobo were not parties to the Suit leading to the Judgment, for which reason same cannot be lawfully executed against us, the judgment covering a limited land as per the judgment survey is now being used to forcibly take over the possession of lands that were not covered by the Judgment.
“In various letters and petitions, we have expressed our dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Police in the handling of our legitimate and genuine grievances against the nefarious activities of Moroof Owonla Kaka and his legion of thugs in Ayobo. These thugs seize and sell people’s land, prevent building construction, and generate endless pandemonium in the Community. Although we are being disappointed by the Police, who have refused to arrest and prosecute the land grabbers, we believe it is not too late for the Police to have a redemptive change of attitude.
“In the meantime, however, while still waiting for justice to be done to us by the Police and State authorities, we have decided, in exercise of our Constitutional rights to freedom of expression and the press and right to peaceful assembly and association, to organize and hold a one day peaceful procession and protest in the Ayobo-Ipaja Community, and at the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex on the 17th of September, 2019. The purpose of the protest is to bring the attention of the world to the plight of the Ayobo Community and underscore the urgency of our quest for justice. It is an action of civic pressure that is permissible in a democracy.”
