Lagos community raises alarm over activities of ex-convict on ancestral land

Residents of Ajao Oluekun, New Oguntedo village, Satellite Town, Lagos, have raised the alarm over the alleged invasion of their community land by an ex-convict (names withheld) and thugs.

They said the community had peace in the past four years when the said ex-convict and his cohorts were incarcerated on a nine-count charge of armed robbery, murder, kidnapping, and illegal possession of firearms by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP),.

Alhaja Fausat Olarinde, the only surviving elder of the family to whom the residents cried since Prince Modiu Olarinde (the Oba designate) had fled over threat to life, told The Guardian that she was yet to come to terms with the legal abracadabra that led to the granting of bail to the ex-convict and his cohorts late last year.

According to her, a petition of “breaking and entry and stealing” was written against the Oba designate and members of his community by the ex-convict. Police detectives from the CP Tactical squad PPL Okokomaiko, without investigating the authenticity of the contents of the petition, stormed the community at about 2.00 a.m. last week and arrested 14 innocent persons.

Also, one of the community residents, Mr Gab Okoye, a Nollywood star who has lived in the community for the past 20 years, said the 82-year-old ex-convict had been to prison often, adding that the man was expected to have reneged on his criminal activities.

He said before his incarceration, “We lived in fear. He maintains an army of thugs, and they kill at will. It was the retired AIG Hakeem Odumosu who was then CP Lagos that sent him to prison against all odds.

“I am sure the court that granted him bail is unaware that he is back to his old trade of unleashing mayhem on hapless persons. We may have to jointly write to the court as a community that the man is back and has started again with his criminality.”

At the Tactical Squad in Okokomaiko, the Commander, CSP Olusegun Ajao, who said he was not qualified to speak to the press, noted that the police acted on the face of a petition forwarded by the Commissioner of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, from the office of Femi Falana.

“What we are doing here is legal. We are acting on the petition forwarded to us by our CP from the office of Falana. Ours is to investigate and write a report of what we found out,” he said.

On his men’s alleged unprofessional behaviour, CSP Ajao said: “I am not aware of all the allegations against my men. But I promise you that all we are here for is justice. We are police officers and have nothing to do with land matters; we are only interested in the criminal aspect.”