The residents of Magodo Phase II Estate in Lagos State on Tuesday took to the streets to protest the continued presence of over 50 armed policemen in the estate.
Recall that the policemen were said to have accompanied suspected land grabbers and members of a family who invaded the estate to claim possession of the property two weeks ago.
During the invasion, the group used red, brown and blue inks to inscribe ‘ID/795/88 Possession Taken Today 21/12/21 by Court Order,’ on various properties on the estate.
However, the Lagos State Government described the invasion as unwarranted and vowed to prosecute those involved in the invasion.
During the protest, many vehicle owners were stranded as they could not exit the estate to their various destinations during the protest.
The chairman of Magodo Residents Association Banjo Osinubi speaking with journalists during the protest said the presence of armed cops was unacceptable.
Osinubi said, “We called our people out to protest this morning. Over 50 policemen are living within the estate. We want the police out of our estate,” stated the Magodo resident association chairman.
“There are no cases of kidnapping, rioting, but why are they still here? We want them out of our estate.”
Meanwhile, two gates leading to the estate were shut as placards-carrying residents continued their demonstration.
Some of the inscriptions on the placard read, “Gov Sanwo-Olu, stop the illegal possession of Magodo phase 2 properties which were legally bought from LASG,” “Lagos Attorney-General prosecutes those involved in the illegal invasion of Magodo Phase 2 you promised,” “Magodo Phase 2 has been under siege of the IGP’s anti-riot police squad for three weeks.”
The Legal Adviser, Magodo Residents Association, Tunji Abdulhameed, while countering the judgment claim influencing the actions of the invaders, said there was no specification to the area, property, location of the plots of land in the judgment they got in 1993.
Abdulhameed said, “But for you to execute even when you get a judgment, you must still apply for a writ of possession and without it, you cannot enforce the judgment. So, when they applied for the writ of possession and it was approved, we challenged it and that was the time the residents association joined the case as we were not part of the case before they got the judgment.
“The essence of the closure of the gate was to create awareness to the public and to draw the attention of the government as to what is happening in Magodo so that we can get protection from them.”
