Community, govt official at loggerhead over land

MEMBERS of the New-life Community Development Association, in the Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area, of Lagos state, are currently in confrontation with one of the top state government officials, Chief Jobi Ososanya, resident in the area.
The disagreement is over the erection of a wall on a piece of land the people said used to be an access road at Olufemi Ogunshola Street in the area.

It was gathered that, the wall had been erected three times and demolished by members of the community who felt the action was illegal.

The offensive wall on the land in question

In the previous confrontation, it was also alleged that two out of those arrested and jailed by the special court attached to the Task-force on Environment, Alausa, Ikeja for bringing down the wall later died, apparently, as a result of torture suffered in the hands of security personnel
To show their disapproval to the erection of the wall, members of the CDA, mostly youths, lat week marched to the site of the erected wall on Ogunsola Street, bringing it down completely.
Repeated plea to Ososanya
According to them, the action became necessary following repeated plea to Ososanya, who claimed the area belonged to him as it was meant to be a Close and not an access road.
The street, Vanguard gathered, was approved by the former Ikeja Local Government Council, on December 20, 1979 and named after Olufemi Ogunsola.
Alhaji Dele Folorunsho, Chairman New-life CDA, explained that the community’s action of  28 February 2013, followed the decision of the Ifako Ijaiye LGA to build its medical clinic as well as a public library on the piece of land adjoining Olufemi Ogunshola street.
“Before then, we had experienced a shocking display of tyranny from one Chief Jobi Ososanya (Chairman Lagos state Civil Services Commission) who expressed a total opposition to the Local Government’s proposed development in the area,” he said.
The Chief was alleged to have claimed ownership of the land which the council planned to develop and in order to halt the move, he erected a fence along the affected piece of land thereby cutting off Olufemi Ogunshola from other streets and the main road leading to Ogba, Ijaiye.
He was said to have also employed the services of some military police personnel to forcibly denying access to the property.
Hence, in a petition to Governor and Chairman of Ifako-Ijaiye council, the residents stated that the Chief’s  action exposed them to hardship and will undoubtedly lead to environmental and socio- economic disadvantages if not rectified:
When contacted, Chief Osasanya, maintained that the land belonged to him, and was quick to direct enquiries to the state Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development for clarification.
“I don’t have much to say on this, you need to visit the site, the land in question is wider than the road go to physical planning it’s my land and government told me to go and possess the land.
“You need to go to the Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to find out the true position of things,” he said.