The Igbaro Otesade Royal Family in Oke Ado, Eti Osa Local Council of Lagos State, has protested against alleged annexation of their ancestral land and harassment by a construction company.

Speaking during the protest in Lagos, the family’s spokesman, Hammed Ogunbo, said: “Earlier this year, a man by the name, Mr. Oyeleke Ajiboye, who is the owner of Efficacy Construction Company, came to grab virtually almost all the five acres of land that were originally owned by the Otesade Royal family, without any form of documentation, permission or approval from the Lagos State Government.

“He went ahead to maliciously demolish all the properties that were already built on the land by buyers. The original owners decided to meet with Mr. Ajiboye but were harassed by uniformed men and area boys. Ajiboye, who had also built a fence around the acres of land, remained adamant, and continued with his work on the said land even after he was asked to discontinue work by the Otesade Royal Family.

“We took the matter to the Lagos State House Of Assembly, Alausa, Ikeja, and met with Honourable Tobun, who pleaded with us to be patient and confirmed to us that the Assembly was aware that the state government wanted to use the land and that an arrangement was being made to provide them with another acre of land as compensation.

”However, we disagreed with the proposed compensation because the land being offered as compensation was also owned by them. Afterwards, the Otesade Royal Family sued Mr. Ajiboye Oyeleke at the State High Court in Oke Ado, Eti Osa, where an order was passed asking for both parties to suspend all ongoing work on the land. Instead, Ajiboye turned a deaf ear and continued work there. He also sold some parts of the land to a buyer. However, when the Otesade family approached the new buyer, he immediately put a stop to all work on the land.’’

Lawyer to the family, Kingsley Okoro, said that members of the family have been subjected to constant harassment by Ajiboye, urging the state government to intervene as the land has been covered by “strong official titles such as excision from the Lagos State government, a subsisting court judgment, allocation and approved layout given by the Ministry Of Physical Planning, Lagos State.’’

Responding on the telephone, Ajiboye dismissed the allegations as a tissue of lies.

“They (Otesade Family) sold the land to unsuspecting persons even after they had been compensated by the state government over the acquisition of the land. The original owner of the land, which was then about 60 hectares, is the Otebiya Family. The Otebiya Family has not challenged our ownership of the land, while a faction of the Otesade Family is doing all of these to blackmail us because they do not want to refund money to unsuspecting people they have sold the land to.”