Chairman of Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, Thursday declared that there is need for a legal backing to overcome menace of land grabbing in Ibadan.
Oba Ladoja said this while receiving the report of Niyi Akintola anti-land grabbing committee at the Olubadan Palace, Oke- Aremo, Ibadan.
He stated that the proposed legal framework would entail passing of bye-laws by our local government councilors, in accordance with the Land Use Act to spell out the creation of special tribunals that would give accelerated hearing to cases of land grabbing in Ibadan and specify sanctions.
“We have come to a situation where suspected land grabbers should know that enough is enough. We were investigating a land matter in this palace last week.
“Somebody brought what he called a 1912 Supreme Court judgement to say that the land at Alapa to Maamu, Oluyole local govt belong to his family. And we told him that the Northern and Southern Nigeria were amalgamated in 1914.
“Your court judgment predates Nigeria, therefore, it is fake. 1912 to 2025 is over 100 years. A lawyer amongst us was asking him if he didn’t know that it is wrong to seek to implement court judgement after 10 years it was delivered.
“It is the same thing with fake survey plans and funny petitions. How can somebody living in Ibadan sell off some people’s land in Ibadan and use an address in Osogbo to petition the Police Inspector General in Abuja to allege threat to life, gun running and terrorism. I think there should be a punishment against fake petitioners.
“The tremendous amount of public interest generated by the committee made the composition of the proposed tribunals with men and women of proven integrity imperative.”
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