…How She Ordered OP Mesa to Beat Up Estate EXCO
Residents of Gateway Zone, Magodo phase 1 have cried out to Lagos State Government over the recent breach of peaceful co-existence among residents in the community by popular lawyer Abimbola Badia Jack.
In recent times, Abimbola Badia Jack has become a torn in the flesh of Gateway Zone residents who now live in fear and anxiety over the incessant attacks by land grabbers and military men who have tried all means possible to gain entrance into the estate.
It should be noted that the constant attacks by Abimbola Badia Jack might leave the estate vulnerable to suspected robbers who might take advantage of this fiasco to dislodge residents of their belongings.
The Magodo scheme is a Lagos State Government scheme established over three decades to which the Government of Lagos State pursuant to the land use Act 1978 allocated by way of parcels of land to various persons and on which members of the community development association built and erected houses for their respective families.
Magodo phase 1 gateway zone is a Lagos State Government reservation area bordered by wetland. It was gathered that members of the CDA had lived peacefully in the community until October 8, 2021, when Abimbola Jack Olaguda and her cohort in a gang steric manner acting on behalf of the Ojoko and Oloto families led thugs into the zone and forcefully damaged and destroyed the parameter fence in disguise to open the boundary wall to make access to the adjoining land and harassed everyone in the estate.
The issue was reported to the Isheri Divisional Police Station where Abimbola Jack and her cohort were charged to court on November 11, 2021. The matter was later withdrawn and taken to Zone 2. They were warned to desist from the illegal act of trespass and breach of peace in the community. Despite that, Abimbola Jack and her cohort have not relented as they have at different times confronted the security guards at the entrance of the gateway zone armed with guns and other ammunition and forcefully entered the estate.
The residents of the community later protested the illegal act championed by Abimbola Jack. The chairman of the gateway zone Ayo Fasugba while addressing newsmen said the land is a government reserved area ” only for us to be confronted by omo oniles that after fixing this road with our own self-help that they have thorough fare to their own land”, Fasugba said, ” The challenge is that people discovered that the bulldozer came here under the pretense that they were part of the construction work going on and within minutes, we just saw a portion of our fence already pulled down. It was a shock to everybody”.
A representative of the Ojoko family Tunde Balogun, one of the land owners dismissed the claim that there was never a route through the estate to the wetland. He said those that sold the space to the residents needed access to their property which the resident association has deprived them of.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State House of Assembly has set up some committees to look into the conflict amicably. Honorable Sanai Agunbiade while addressing newsmen said the Lagos State house of assembly has received petitions on the matter and has taken several steps including a visit to the wetland.
” I didn’t know there was a protest because we are still on the matter and the house has not issued a final verdict “, Agunbiade said, “In respect to all these, all the house is trying to do is to mediate and see what we can do to actually solve it so that everybody will see clearly that if this is what the house says, there is justification for it. If that has been the situation, we would have expected that the estate could have made representation to the committee on the matter”.
Abimbola Jack and her cohort visited the estate on Monday 26 September 2022 with men of the police force, who claimed to be conducting an investigation but disrupted the peace of the estate by impersonating one of the residents to gain access into the estate.
Again yesterday, Tuesday 27 September Abimbola Jack stormed Gateway Zone with 12 OP MESA officers to disrupt the estate and also beat one of the exco of the estate blue-black while they also made an attempt to go away with the security mobile phone of the estate that was recording the scene of their violence.
It is expected that whatever decision is raised by the Lagos State house of assembly, it should be one that considers the safety of the environment, security of lives and properties, and the protection of the investment of Lagosians.
