Kunle Adelabu
The Majority Leader of the Lagos State House of Assembly and representative of the Ikorodu Constituency I, Hon. Sanai Agunbiade has stated that the legislative arm, in its efforts to make the Lagos State Property Protection Law of 2016, otherwise known as Landgrabbing law, more effective, would embark on a review exercise.
He said that the law will be reviewed to make the State’s Special Taskforce on Land Grabbers more effective and responsive to land matters.
“The law on land grabbing is under review and what we intend to do is to ensure that the task force on land grabbing responds to cases of lands promptly whenever there is a problem by approaching the court to get injunction”, Hon. Agunbiade said.
“This will prevent any violent engagement since nobody will be allowed on the said land since they have been restricted”.
Agunbiade alleged that some lawyers, community leaders and police are the ones that encourage the activities of the landgrabbers, popularly known as ‘Ajagungbales’, in Ikorodu, a situation, he said, also encourages cultism.
“Ikorodu is a problem unto itself through some lawyers and heads of communities”, he said.
“The largest numbers of landgrabing cases are from Ikorodu” the Majority Leader disclosed.
“Lawyers and Baales aid landgrabbers through frivolous petitions and many of the police officers are on the pay rolls of these landgrabbers”, the lawyer turned politician alleged.
“Some Baales do not even have a plot of land, yet, they give out many hectares of land to one ‘Ajagungbale’ to help them secure their lands.
“The major cause of cultism in Ikorodu is caused by the activities of ‘Ajagungbales’. All these ‘Ajagungbales’ engage different sets of cult groups and they usually extend their violent engagements from site into the town and that has accounted for many cases that we are witnessing”, Hon. Agunbiade further explained.
He charged the chairman of the Ikorodu Security Trust Limited, who also chaired the security summit held few days ago, to use his influence with royal fathers and other stakeholders, in addressing the manace.
“Our problems in Ikorodu are those land owning families who are driven by greed and resort to inviting ‘Ajagungbales’ instead of settling their differences amicably or approaching our royal fathers for intervention”.
In his response to the call for the review of law Anti – Cultism law to include imposition of stiffer sanctions on those that are initiating others into cult groups, the Majority Leader of the Lagos House of Assembly said that the law captures all.
