No fewer than hundreds of people have been left homeless at Monkey village of Lagos state after the recent demolition of the buildings which are over 31 years old around Opebi area of Lagos State.

About two weeks ago, homes of about 100,000 people, residents and mechanic workshops at the monkey village were demolished by the officials of Lagos State Government without any eviction notice or order.

The forceful eviction of this community affected mainly the less privileged, who said they have nowhere to turn to.

A 76 year old landlord, Mr Robert Egbe, Pharmacy Technician said that he resided in Agbokwu
village known as monkey village since 1974, a slum area where monkey will come out in broard day light to play with the residents which gave the place the name `monkey village’.

He said that on December 31, 2020, the Lagos state land grabbing agency demolished all the building without any notice.

“My building was affected; I acquired a plot of land from Egba refugees since 1974 which I have Certificate of Occupancy issued by the state including Approved Building Plan and since then I pay my land charges till date.

“I am pleading with the state government to kindly intervene in this ugly situation because I have no place to go with my family.

Another resident, Madam Agnes Peters, who is a caretaker said she has been in one of the buildings for over 13years with her family.

According to her, she resided at Oniagbabo area of Abule Eko before she relocated to monkey village.

“I am a petty trader and nobody ever notified us of any notice of eviction; if there was any I would have alerted my co-tenant.

“I went to the market to buy the petty items I sell, before I returned, everywhere has been demolished I did not remove anything from my apartment.

Another anonymous resident said he has lived at monkey village for 25years and was surprised when the ministry came and demolished the area. They took us unaware because many residents were not at home,’’ he said.

Barr. Monday Ubani, whose client’s six plots of land were affected, addressed the press saying that the agencies of Lagos State Government cannot disposess a private citizen of the land he acquired legitimately and had been in possession for over 20 years with a certificate of occupancy of about 31 years without proper procedure.

While disputing the claims by the legal adviser to Engr. Ariori that the concerned property belongs to the Meadows family who delegated his client to develop the land at Folorunsho Kuku Street in Opebi, Ubani claimed that in actual fact, the land belonged to the Egba Refugees who, he said were the original owners and are the land sellers in the entire Opebi including the particular portion in contention.

“My client has been on that land for over 20 years, paying his Land Use Charge up to date. He has a C/O issued as far back as 1989. He bought from somebody who has a C/O”.

“Egba Refugees are the land sellers in the whole of Opebi, and they are the ones that sold this particular land.

They were never part of the Supreme Court judgment they were mentioning. In fact, there is a Supreme Court judgement that gave over 55 per cent of the land in Opebi to the Egba Refugees in Opebi, and based upon that they sold them”.

According to him, “Even if we establish the fact that they are now saying that the property fell into the Meadow’s family, we have to also establish the root of title. Who owns the land from beginning?

“If the Egba Refugees are the original owners of the land who were not parties to the Supreme Court judgement, that Supreme Court judgement cannot bind them. It was not the defendants in Meadow’s case that sold to the owner of the Certificate of Occupancy.

“That’s why I said that the matter can only be determined by the court and not even this administrative panel set up by the State Government whose motive is to exonerate themselves from blame in aiding the land grabbers”.

Most importantly, according to Mr Ubani, is the unorthodox manner the Meadows’s representatives used in the so called enforcement of the judgement of the supreme Court. It is the Sheriffs of the court that executes judgement of the court and not government officials or the various ministries in the State.

Barr Francis Monye, a legal practitioner to Prosperous Ariyori Golden Ventures, while responding after the meeting set up by the governor of Lagos State of an Inter- ministerial Committee to look into the case of Land Grabbing involving 1 Folorunsho Kuku Street, Ikeja, Opebi said the land developer was given the concession by G.W.O Meadows Family to develop and manage the land, we are acting based on several ruling of the courts which declared Meadows Family as the rightful owner of the property.

He said, possession of the land was based on the ruling of the Lagos High Court in Suit No: LD/513/80 and Court of Appeal in Suit No: CA/1/16A/92, as well as the ruling of the apex court, the Supreme Court in SC146/1995, which were all in the favour of the G.W.O Meadows family.