Land dispute: Family petitions Tinubu over alleged eviction threat by Faleke and river basin agency

The Akinole-Oshiun family of Agidingbi, Ikeja, has appealed directly to President Bola Tinubu over an alleged threat to remove it from an 8,000-square-metre parcel of land.

The family alleges that James Faleke, the lawmaker representing Ikeja Federal Constituency, and the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority are pursuing control of the property along Lateef Jakande Road, opposite the Coca-Cola factory. In an open letter shared with PREMIUM TIMES, the family said Faleke recently visited the site with land agents and lawyers while seeking a long lease from OORBDA.

The family also alleged that Faleke threatened to deploy “presidential power” and the police to remove it. The dispute forms part of a wider, decades-old legal battle over land in Agidingbi. Represented by family head Isiaka Akinole and secretary Fatai Oshiun, the family said several court judgments had established its interest in the wider property and that OORBDA had not challenged those decisions.

The litigation began in the 1970s, involving about 398 acres in and around Agidingbi. The family cited a 1977 Lagos State High Court judgment, later decisions by the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, and several related cases. It said the earlier proceedings involved competing claims and the occupation of parts of the land by people described as customary tenants.

The family said it obtained and executed a writ of possession from the Lagos State High Court in April 2019. According to its account, the court's deputy sheriff carried out the writ in the presence of police officers, after which officials issued a Form O, described by the family as a certificate of writ of execution. It maintains that the parcel now in dispute falls within the land covered by the earlier cases.

The matter later reached the Lagos State House of Assembly through a petition alleging illegal allocations of land covered by the Supreme Court judgment. The family said OORBDA officials, including its director of legal services, appeared at a public hearing. It added that the House's Rules and Business Committee resolved that the Lagos government should comply with the court decisions and recognize the family's ownership claim.

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