Ogun monarch denies land grabbing allegations

The traditional ruler of the Irete-Ijebu kingdom in Ogun State, Oba Abdulganiyu Yesufu, has denied allegations of land grabbing.

A group had accused the monarch of conniving with some persons to ‘convert the Abomiti, Yeguda and Eyin-Osa resettlement land for kickbacks and presenting ‘forged or backdated survey to some of the communities.’

The group also described him as a quack surveyor.

The monarch, in a statement signed by his Palace Principal Secretary, Taiwo Shakiru, said the allegations were made to smear his credibility.

The statement read in part, “The summary of the background facts is that the Lagos State Government resettled peoples/communities that it acquired their ancestral/customary lands for the public purpose of the Lekki Free Trade Zone Project, pursuant to the Land Use Act, 1978, Chapter L5, LFN 2004 on a large expanse of land at Oke-Ira Alagbon/Ilamija, Epe Lagos State, under the Resettlement Committees namely Abomiti, Eyin Osa and Yeguda. The three associations were duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and a Memorandum of Understanding was subsequently signed by the three committees with the Lagos State Government.

“Therefore, the individuals recognised by law to manage the day-to-day running of the activities of each of the associations are the committee members. They determine what they do with their land. Our kabiyesi neither runs the committees nor take decisions for them.”

According to the statement, the monarch is neither a civil servant nor a political appointee of the Lagos State Government, and as such has no business collaborating with any government official or political office holder on land that he is not a committee member.

The statement added that the allegations of kickbacks and the involvement of the state government were false.

“It is thus absolutely false, vexatious and indefensible that Kabiyesi connived with whosoever to ‘convert the Abomiti, Yeguda and Eyin -Osa resettlement land for kickbacks’. It is even more imbecilic that the so-called self-appointed mouthpiece of the faceless ‘Parapo Communities’ did not mention who received the kickbacks, how much, where it was collected and the mode of payment.”

“Even more laughable is the moronic allegation that kabiyesi ‘forged or backdated survey to some of the communities’ and that the Lagos State Government suspended the activities of Lekki Coaster and Epe Lagoon (sic) on their resettlement land, because of ‘Awokoya’s greed and conversion of all the land for personal sales’.”

The palace secretary clarified that the monarch was a land management consultant and did not refer to himself as a licenced or registered surveyor.

“Kabiyesi has never appended his signature to any document and/or Survey Plan as a licensed and/or registered surveyor. He is not a ‘quack surveyor’. He is a land M
Management consultant with an enviable pedigree of impervious integrity, unimpeachable credibility and outstanding professional finesse. He worked for the Resettlement Committees namely Abomiti, Eyin Osa and Yeguda as a land management consultant and he is entitled to his remuneration as mutually agreed and documented between the parties.

“Therefore, it is criminal and pernicious, and it begs logic for anyone to have wickedly and curiously attempted to tarnish the good name and disparage the image of the kabiyesi, and the noble traditional institution of the Onirete of Irete-Ijebu stool,” he added.