The economic implications of the nefarious activities of land grabbers popularly called ‘Omo Onile’ yet again returned to the front burner of discourse even as many stakeholders including community leaders and security experts lamented that the practice is antithetical to economic growth and had claimed many precious lives.
Indeed, land grabbing has risen to the level of a syndrome across several states in Nigeria. The perpetrators not only operate as a deadly cabal, their network and influence transcends state borders and appears to be most prominent in Lagos and Ogun States.
It was in acknowledgement that activities of land grabbers continue to scare legitimate businesses with the potential to serve as catalysts to development as well as create employment that informed the Oriwu Economic Collective Summit which held in Ikorodu recently. The Summit, which had a theme, Tame the demon for economic prosperity, was organized by the Oriwu Collective, a socio-cultural group bent on attracting investors to the Ikorodu axis of Lagos State.
Speakers at the event including developmental economists, security experts, community leaders and policy makers lauded that the efforts of the Lagos State government towards stemming the ugly tide, it was unanimously agreed that much still needs to be done before the menace is reduced to the barest minimum.
Participants at the event hailed the initiative by the administration of governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State in tackling the problem while also lamented the many indigenes of the community and non indigenes alike that have been killed by the land grabbers in various attempts to illegally and forcefully dispossess them of their landed properties.
In an emotion laden speech at the event. a community leader, chief Sariu Inaolaji listed several family members who have either been killed by the Omo Oniles or gone missing since 2015 till date. Even as he hailed the efforts of the Lagos State Government to check the nefarious activities of land grabbers, he lamented that they have done countless irreparable harm to the communities and urged the government to go after several other land grabbers who were still on the loose terrorizing the communities and its residents.
According to Chief Inaolaji, the lists of indigenes include Jimoh Olowosile an industrialist and promoter of the now moribund Alpha Plastics industry; Richard Banwo, owner of Tortugal Resorts and Garden whose mangled corpse was discovered in February 2016 days after he was abducted on the site of his new resort lake in Ogijo area of Ogun State and, Mubaraq Badejo who was abducted and later found dead in Ibeshe area of Ikorodu among others.
Chief Inaolaji also noted that since 2017 the whereabouts of two prominent indigenes of the community, Julius Ademayo and Chief Oluwafemi Santos have remained unknown after several attempts to dispossess them of their lands.
“Between 2015 and 2017, we have lost countless prominent sons and daughters of our community to land grabbers, while some have gone missing and have not been seen since. In the case of those that were killed, painful as it was, but we take consolation in the fact that in line with our culture they were buried, and religious rights were performed for the repose of their lives. We can’t say that of those that have been missing. We don’t know if they are dead or not, and can’t perform burial rites for them.
“The cases of Chief Oluwafemi Santos and Ademayo are particularly saddening. These are prominent members of the community who meant well for our community. Besides being known legal landowners, they were at the forefront of attracting business, investors and developing our communities before they disappeared. Since their disappearance, many of the laudable initiatives that they championed have stalled, and the promoters of the businesses they brought to our communities have fled for their dear lives.
“These, among other reasons, informed why we must all support the initiative of the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode administration to put an end to the menace of land grabbers for the good of all,” he concluded.
It will be recalled that concerned about complaints from local communities and individuals like Chief Inaolaji about how law-abiding members of the society lose access to land and livelihoods through the activities of Omo Onile, the Lagos State Government in 2017 established a task force to check the menace of land-grabbing in the State, with commitment to tackle the activities of land grabbers with the full deployment of resources of government and applicable laws of the state.
Inaugurating the task force, the State’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, had said the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is determined to apply the full weight of the law to permanently address the issue. He added that the economic destabilization, havoc and unrest being caused by land grabbers was no longer acceptable.
The Commissioner explained that it was noteworthy that Section 281 of the criminal law included land as things capable of being stolen, while Sections 52 and 53 of the law prescribe a jail term of two years for any person who forcibly enters or takes possession of land in a manner likely to cause a breach of the peace against a person entitled by law to the possession of the land. According to Kazeem: “In recent years, land grabbers have caused havoc and unrest in different parts of the State by dispossessing legitimate land-owners of their properties thereby stifling commercial activities in the State.
A security expert and participant at the summit, William Agbaje who also spoke at the summit painted a gloomy picture of why the problem is intractable.
Agbaje explained that the land grabbers are backed by powerful and influential members of the society, adding that some of their patron(s) backers were the same who fund the campaign of some of the politicians, which is why the politicians are reluctant to fully go after their foot soldiers.
“The problem of Omo Oniles will remain with us for a long time to come. Government lacks the political will to fully go after the land grabbers and reign them in once and for all. My summation may sound pessimistic or cryptic, but it remains the bitter reality that we have to face. And I explain why.
“The land grabbers are backed by very powerful and influential members of the society. Their backers, intelligence information at my disposal reveal, are the same people who fund the electioneering campaigns of the politicians that we count on to provide the political will to go after the Omo Oniles and this is why the politicians cannot go after them. Many political office holders are compromised and can’t move against those behind land grabbing activities and their foot soldiers. Agbaje concluded.
