The Federal High Court has issued an interim order, restraining the Lagos Task Force, including its chairman, CSP Ishola Jejeloye, SP Salako, DSP Otunbu, and others, from making arrests, detaining, intimidating, threatening, or taking any untoward action against Hon. Abdullahi Saheed Mosadoluwa of Harmony Gardens & Estate Development Ltd, and all the members of Parapo of Abomiti Resettlement Land faction led by Chief Obafemi Obajimi, who is one of the 6 accredited representatives of Resettlement beneficiaries. This order remains in effect until the substantive motion is heard on November 24, 2023.
The order was given on Tuesday after a group of individuals representing the beneficiaries of the Free Trade Zone Parcel B Resettlement Communities (Parapo), which includes Eyin-Osa, Abomiti, and Yeguda Zones Resettlement landowners, sought legal action in the Federal High Court against CSP Ishola Jejeloye, whom they accused in their case as a land grabber in a police uniform, using Nola Adetola of Veritasi Homes and Properties Limited. The case, with suit number FHC/L/CS/2023/2023, involves the beneficiaries of the Parcel B Resettlement, Surveyor Olusegun Awokoya, while Jejeloye was alleged to have claimed that he is working on IGP instructions because IG’s son has an interest in Veritasi.
The Resettlement Communities, represented by Chief Rahman Olakunle, Chief Olasunkanmi Ikujenya, Apena Adijat, Chief Onayemi Obajimi Obafemi, and Pearl Ehighimetor for Harmony Gardens, took the matter to the court to seek relief from further actions by CSP Ishola Jejeloye hiding under his influence as the chairman of Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force), with other top Police officers to forcefully take over Properties for Nola Adetola.
The Community Beneficiaries have warned that whoever buys Itunu City at Abomiti from Veritasi Homes is buying endless litigations because they only sold their resettlement benefits to Harmony Gardens and not Veritasi Homes.
The court emphasized the importance of respecting court orders and maintaining the status quo in this contentious land dispute.
However, in a separate but related case, CSP Ishola Jejeloye’s charges against Hon. Abdullahi Saheed Mosadoluwa (A.K.A) Mr. Ibile at the Lagos Special Offences (Mobile) Court, with charge number SOC/TF/B/114/2023, address other issues and find that the Chairman task force charged the investor to court on the issue related to land disputes and said the nominal complaints, Itunu (Veritasi Homes) and Jejeloye should maintain the status quo.
This case involves the Attorney General of Lagos State and individuals charged with offenses connected to a land dispute, and the court has his integrity to protect.
During the proceedings, the defense counsel raised concerns about the Chairman of the Lagos Task Force, CSP Ishola Jejeloye, directing officers in the subject matter of the suit. The court, in its ruling, emphasized that taking possession or repossession of premises through self-help, abuse of public office privileges, and the use of force are forbidden, and parties should seek legal redress instead of the overzealous actions of the task force in favor of one party.
In response to the complainant’s defiance of the court’s ruling to maintain the status quo, the court ordered the nominal complainant, Veritasi Homes and Property Limited, the owner of Itunu City, to maintain the status quo. Furthermore, the Chairman of the Lagos State Task Force, CSP Jejeloye, and any officers of the Task Force were directed to refrain from encroaching or erecting anything on the subject matter of the suit.
The court also highlighted the importance of investigating reports that some individuals, Barrister Dotun Hassan and Murphy Adebare Ademoye of Topaz Garden, were reported to have taken photographs of Hon. Abdullahi Saheed Mosadoluwa during court proceedings to disparage him and demarket his company. The court emphasized the importance of investigating these actions in line with the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Act.
The Abomiti and Eyin Osa land dispute cases continue to draw attention in Lagos State, where land disputes are a recurring issue. As both cases progress, the legal community and the public await further developments with interest.
