Lagos family petitions police chief, accuses officers of shielding alleged land grabbers

The Olarinde Royal Family of Oguntedo Village, Satellite Town, Lagos State, has taken its land dispute to Nigeria’s top police authorities, accusing officers of turning their power against the family and protecting alleged land grabbers.

In a petition signed by Prince Yussuf Olarinde, the family accused officers attached to Satellite Police Station, Area E Command, the Area E Tactical Team and the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department of frustrating complaints against people it described as land grabbers. The petition was addressed to Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu, the deputy inspector-general overseeing the Force Criminal Investigation Department, the commissioner in charge of the X-Squad Unit and the Police Service Commission.

The family said it had already protested at The PUNCH Place in July 2025 over what it described as harassment linked to the dispute. It claimed that New Oguntedo Village and the Satellite Town settlement were created and allocated to the Olarinde Royal Family by the then Federal Military Government in 1978, after government acquisition and resettlement exercises.

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Rather than maintaining neutrality and enforcing lawful court judgments, the officers complained against provided operational cover and protection for armed thugs and land-grabbing syndicates; intimidated lawful occupants and family members.

The petitioners also said the High Court of Lagos State affirmed their ownership and possessory rights in a 1989 judgment. They said warrants of possession issued in 1997 and 2010 later enforced that judgment. Despite those orders, the family alleged that invasions, demolitions, intimidation and violence continued, carried out by people it described as land-grabbing syndicates and criminal trespassers.

“Rather than maintaining neutrality and enforcing lawful court judgments, the officers complained against provided operational cover and protection for armed thugs and land-grabbing syndicates; intimidated lawful occupants and family members,” the petition said. It further accused the officers of blocking access to ancestral properties, facilitating unlawful invasions and demolitions, and using police authority to shield alleged perpetrators. The family said it had reported several violent incidents, including shootings, assaults, threats to life and destruction of property.

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They prevented members of the Olarinde family from accessing their ancestral homes and properties. While they supervised and facilitated unlawful invasions and demolitions, they also frustrated lawful complaints and petitions submitted by the petitioners; and used police authority as an instrument of oppression against victims while shielding alleged perpetrators.