Many prominent personalities and organisations in Ibadan including the former Deputy Governor of CBN and gubernatorial candidate of Accord Party in 2023, Adebayo Adelabu, and a former member of the House of Representatives, Folake Olunloyo-Oshinowo, may lose their properties at section of the popular Oluyole Estate and Oni & Sons’ Areas of Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, as the family of Babatunde Olunlade has started moves to effect a 50-year-old judgement to reclaim over 200 plots of land in these areas.
Others affected are — Chief Fadairo of Tafotech, Chief Segun Morgan of Oomor House, Jimoh Adefarati, R. A Akinpelu, Late Lawyer Mako, MFM Church, The Concord School and many others.
According to reports, the move started very early on Friday morning when the family members stormed Oluyole Estate and Oni & Sons area of Ring Road with policemen and suspected ‘thugs’ armed with dangerous weapons, to ‘reclaim’ their land.
The ‘reclaimants’ also pasted the ‘warrant for possession’ on all the affected buildings on their ‘land’ including hospitals, hotels, mechanics’ workshop, high class housing estates, churches, event centers and the popular Concord Group of Schools.
Sequel to this move by the land owners, landlords in the area called an emergency meeting where it was resolved that the ‘aggression’ must be resisted. Men of the Oyo State Security outfit, Operation Burst were then drafted in.
The presence of the security men, according to eye-witnesses made the land reclaimers to ‘disappear’.
In the words of one of the affected landlords: “The bailiffs and the omo oniles disappeared when they saw the officers from Operation Burst. We will not be intimidated. Something is fishy and we are sure some legal officers from the Oyo State High Court are playing some kind of game. Over 80 per cent of the original owners of properties here are dead and most of us have our Certificates of Occupancy (CofO). We will approach the Olubadan of Ibadanland to seek justice.”
Meanwhile, according to the ‘warrant of possession’, the judgment for Babatunde Olunlade to take the large parcel of land from Adejumo Ajao Awiyo was delivered on June 30, 1972 but ‘revalidated’ on June 29, 2022.
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