n 11 August, Alabi Olujide received a distress call that some military personnel had invaded his farm field in the Igboku area of Epe, Lagos State. Disturbed, he rushed down to the farm to realise that what he knew to be a land dispute — with the matter in court — had turned into the use of soldiers to intimidate him.
“We are quite taken aback by the unlawful and illegal actions of Rear Admiral Mohammed Raimi Omuya who deposited money for the purchase of acres of land from the family sometime in 2014 and up till today has not finished paying for the land,” the family wrote in a letter signed by Mr Wasiu and seen by PREMIUM TIMES.“We are surprised that he has resorted to using armed soldiers to intimidate us and foreclose any form of amicable settlement of the land dispute.
“The law is trite that payment of deposits for land does not confer a title on the depositor and a depositor is only entitled to a refund,” noted Moses Otusemade, a legal practitioner at Otus Legal and Consultancy, a law firm in Lagos. “Therefore, Admiral Omuya could only accept the family’s new proposal, or the family would refund all the payments he had made.
After the admiral’s “military personnel” appeared on the land and displaced Mr Olujide’s cattle, the family said the admiral’s action was an encroachment. Then they wrote to Mr Olujide: “You are a bonafide owner of our family land which you purchased in 2012, and we shall defend you against anyone that claims interest on that particular portion of land.”hen the soldiers invaded Mr Olujide’s farm on 11 August, dozens of livestock were found dead and several others were missing.
“When a land matter is in court, the popular belief is that both parties refrain from executing activities on it pending the determination of the case in court,” Mr Olujide added. “But he took armed personnel to the land even though he and the Shagbaijo family have a case pending in court.” “If it is a case in court, I think it will be uncivilised for any of the parties to still resort to violence and harassment,” he told PREMIUM TIMES. “But they can petition the chief of naval staff to make this complaint.”eary of Mr Omuya’s influence in the Nigerian Armed Forces, his victims said they were reluctant to report him to the police. They were waiting for a court injunction when the officer yet again used his influence to intimidate the Shagbaijo family.