Victims of land grabbing including a widow, Joke Kolapo whose husband was allegedly murdered in Ilameja Community area of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government in the Epe area of Lagos State have called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Inspector General of Police, IG Kayode Egbetokun, to rescue them from untimely death.
In a press conference, the victims who were also residents of Ibeju Lekki are workers in a real estate firm, Topaz Gardens, the aggrieved residents, appealed to the governor and the IG to intervene in the issue of land grabbing in Ilameja before it would go out of control.
Speaking on behalf of the victims, Mr Tunji Balogun, the Project Director of Social Justice and Human Rights Group, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) said that constant attacks had increased pains and sorrows of residents.
The government and security agents need to wade into the brewing crisis, Balogun, said that the situation had paralysed socioeconomic activities in the area.
“We are calling on Gov. Sanwo-Olu and IGP Egbetokun and other security agencies to rescue us from this lingering attack by the land grabbers terrorizing this community.
“We want the government to swiftly intervene in the alleged constant attack by a notorious Saheed Ibile, over willful destructions of properties, forceful encroachments, entry and invasion, assault occasioning arm and land grabbing,
“We are law-abiding citizens and responsible residents we would not want a situation where the matter will result to communal clashes”, they said.
Balogun who is also a resident said that Artisans were always being attacked working on the site by the hoodlums, assaulting and beating them with charms and using dangerous weapons.
“We predicated on the need to rescue all the affected families and victims from the deadly land grabbers.
“We have here today injured victims and widow of Late Mr Sodiq Kolapo, an innocent Bricklayer who was allegedly shot while working as labourer in the site and his body whisked away by the land grabbers.
“While other victims, Samusideen Oluwo and Sunday Olabayo, are still nursing their injuries sustained during the attacks in the site.
“We want the Gov. Sanwo-Olu to urgently come to our rescue before the situation escalates to community clashes”, he said
Mrs Joke Kolapo, the widow of the murdered bricklayer who was allegedly killed while working at the site also narrated her ordeals since 8 July 2023, when her husband was shot.
Kolapo said that her husband had been working at the construction site at Ilameja community, Ibeju-Lekki, Epe for many weeks before they were attacked by the land grabbers.
Lamenting, Kolapo said, the husband was just employed as a bricklayer at the site, he was not an indigene of the land.
“I expected my husband to come home on that fateful day, till midnight I didn’t see him, he did not call either and when I tried his phone number, it was not reachable.
“I later went to his friend who introduced him to the job and asked about his whereabouts and he told me that they were attacked by the land grabbers on the site while her husband was shot by a stray bullet and his body was taken away by the hoodlums.
” I was shocked, I cried like a baby, and up till now we haven’t seen my husband’s corpse, neither his burial ground.
“I am a nursing mother with three children, I want the government to intervene and come to my aid, the attack is too much in the community”, she said.
