Abiodun inaugurates commission of inquiry on illegal land allocation

Cautions members against inducement

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has inaugurated a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to undertake a comprehensive review, analysis and investigation of land allocation, documentation and general land dealings in the state for the past 11 years.

A statement by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, in Abeokuta, yesterday, said the inauguration of the eight-member commission was done on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the commission, headed by Justice S.A. Olugbemi (rtd), has three months, in the first instance, to carry out its assignment.

Other members include a legal practitioner, Adetunji Onabowo; a former Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Awolowo Ajogun (rtd); Chairman, Ethics Committee, Nigerian Institution of Surveyors (NIS), Oyebanji Akinhanmi; an estate valuer, Toyin Aluko and a representative of the Department of State Services (DSS).

The governor, while speaking at the inauguration in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, emphasised the important role of land in the economic development of any nation.

Abiodun said the commission’s mandate include unraveling the circumstances surrounding rampant illegal land transactions that have been carried out in Ogun State and others.

Chairman of the commission, Olugbemi, assured that his members would do their best to unravel all illegal and improper allocations of land as stipulated in the commission’s term of reference.

He said the commission, at the end of its assignment, would make recommendations that would lead to greater ease of doing business in the state, assuring that the report would also move the state to greater height in the use of land for economic purposes.