Land grabbing: Lagos Govt. restores lands to 159 residents

The Lagos State Government Special Task Force on Land Grabbing restored lands to 159 residents from April 2020 to April 2021.

The lands were illegally diverted by grabbers popularly known as “Omo Onile”.

The Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), made the disclosure on Wednesday during the 2021 Ministerial Press Briefing of the state.

The ministerial press briefing had the theme “Our Journey from April 2020 to April 2021”.

Onigbanjo said that the task force coordinated by Mr Owolabi Arole would hold series stakeholders sensitisation in six divisions of Lagos State in an effort to tackle land grabbing.

“The first was held on April 22, 2021, at Ikorodu, being one of the major areas in the state where the atrocities of land grabbers are prevalent,” the attorney-general said.

On other areas Lagos State Ministry of Justice has protected the rights of the residents, Onigbanjo said that the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), during the period under review, attended to 50 cases concerning rescue of abused children, and defended 410 inmates.

He said that during the #EndSARS protest of October 2020, the OPD, through its services, helped to secure release of 198 #EndSARS-related inmates.

“During the period under review, the courts delivered 121 judgments and rulings (82 in favour of OPD clients and 39 against).

“The OPD also recovered the sum of N67,305, 422 on behalf of some indigent people,” he said.