Oyo: Three killed, village head flees over 73 year old land dispute

Sunday, November 8, 2009
Alhaji Amubieya Salami is no John Rambo. In fact, he has never seen any of Sylvester Stallone’s movies. But in his team, he is a warlord. A neigbour says his favorite soap is Fadeyi’s “Arelu”.




http://odili.net/news/source/2009/nov/8/601.html

Like a warlord, he allegedly invaded the peaceful Sukuru village in Lagelu local government area of Oyo State with 18 members of his team sometimes in July 2007, and the residents have not known peace since then. The armed mercenaries, after hours of ruthless attack on the villagers, left several wounded, including the Baale of the village,Chief Olusungbemi Rufai Okunola, properties worth loads of money destroyed, and, sadly, three people dead.

In the wake of his mission to allegedlly take back the land,which several courts between the 1920s and 1940s had declared was not his family’s,many have been dispersed to neighbouring villages.

The Baale is currently in hiding.

To these villians,their mission was accomplished. But the gods of the living,and the dead villagers, were not asleep. The Baale identified two of them. These two,and 16 others, initially taken in for interrogation at the Divisional Headquaters,Iyana-Offa,Ibadan,are now running around free. Their mission then was to forcibly take over the over 5,000 acres of land that belonged to the Oke Baale Lalupon, the Baale’s forefather.

In their ruthless frenzy, the trio of Olaboye Ajani(72),Joseph Adelowo(70) and Mrs. Morenike Oladepo(65),were bludgeoned, axed, and shot to death, while the Baale,was matchetted on the head.

Fight for the acres of land began legally way back in the 1930’s when one Ali, the grandchild of the Obigade family, charged Oke Baale Lalupon to the Judicial Council of Ibadan on April 9, 1936, in an effort to recover a piece of land situated at Malafawa.

Ali had claimed his father, Fasina, was the owner of the disputed land, while Oke Baale Lalupon responded that the land belonged to his family.

In a document signed by one S.O Lajumoke (AJCC) on 22 May,1936, the council declared that “the disputed land belongs to Baale Lalupon as it has been in the possession of his father for long”. In a phone conversation,Alhaji Amubieya said he had not seen any document stripping his family of their land.”The land belongs to my fore fathers.It has been so for ages”,he insists.

The late Baale Lalupon had once obtained judgement for this land in 1912 before Mr. Francis Keaton Rosedale, the then Resident in case between him and the late Olofa, and as such, “we are not prepared to alter it. Ali must give up his claim to it at once without further trouble”, the document read.

Disappointed that he didn’t get a favourable judgement from judicial council, Ali appealed to the D.O’s Appeal Court, Ibadan division, in June, 1936. Again, his appeal was dismissed, “The plaintiff (Ali) cannot be allowed to upset a 24 year old judgement,” said the document signed by LRC Sunner (D.O) on October 1,1936. Yet again, Ali was not satisfied, so he appealed to the Resident, Oyo-Province, on April 7, 1937. A document signed by the Acting Chief Commissioner, Southern Province in Enugu on June 3, 1938, caused the case to be re-heard before the High Court.

The High Court of Ibadan Judicial Division before Clifford Claude Francis, in suit no: 1/59/1938, in judgement, stated that “the land amounts to 5,000 acres more or less and includes a number of villages of varying sizes.

“In his evidence, the Plaintiff (Ali) has described with reasonable precision the boundaries of the land, but it calls for comment that this action relates to an area of land considerably in excess of that claimed by him in the Native Court. Be that as it may, the discrepancy did not become apparent until the close of the hearing, which in my view, was too late to order an amendment.

‘’A number of witnesses was called, and much evidence was given by both sides, which, strictly speaking, was inadmissible as being hearsay.

“I refer principally to the evidence of witnesses who repeated what had been told them by their fathers and grandfathers.

“Having regard to all the evidences before me, I’m unable to hold that the Plaintiff has succeeded in establishing that which was held by the Full Court to entitle him to the declaration of title. I, therefore, dismiss this action”, Judge Francis pronounced on 27th of March,1942.

Again, Ali appealed. This time, and finally, to West African Court of Appeal, Lagos, where, finally too, Donald Kingdom, President, ordered that the Appeal, lodged on the 15th day of April, 1943, at the Court, be dismissed with costs assessed at 25 Guineas in favour of Oke Baale Lalupon.

Long gone, the children and grandchildren of Ali have taken up their grandpa’s course, this time outside of the courts.

Not satisfied with their invasion of Sukuru village in 2007, some thugs, allegedly chased Baale Rufai out of the village in efforts to take over the disputed land.

In Sukuru where Sunday Tribune spoke with one Toafeek Olagbesan, a relative of the embattled Baale, he said they have refused to take the law into their hands, but want the police to protect them and other villagers from incessant attacks from hired thugs.

Reacting,Amubieya denied sending thugs to the village,claiming he was a man of peace.”’I have been living in my village peacefully with my people. Why will I want to fight over a thing that is in my possession?, he querried.

Taofeek claimed that most of the villagers, out of fear, had left the village, “that’s why the village is now a ghost- town. These guys threatened to kill our Baale, that was why he ran to Ibadan”, he said. He also claimed that they were about 8,000 before the invasion,but now about 1,800.”

Deacon Jibola Oribogunje, who blamed the police for the exodus, said they had expected the police to end the attacks on innocent villagers, “but they’ve been dilly-dallying”.

The Commissioner for Police,Alhaji Baba Bolanta,said it was not true that the police was taking sides as the force wouldn’t condone such lawlessness.” ”I am aware of the case,but it has not been officially reported to me.My predecessor must have been on it.But you have my word that I shall make sure that an investigation is carried out once the file gets here”’

These words, however, did not sooth the exiled Baale‘s nerves who insisted that the police was protecting Amubieya as they have allegedlly stalled further investigation into the matter. “I was matchetted on the head.This was in my report at the station in Iyana Offa,the nearest police station to the place of attack,but was shocked when signal came from the Area Commander’s Office in Agodi that the case be transferred to Agodi Testing Ground Station.”

A Police report dated October 1,2009,signed by Olanrewaju Stephen (CSP),DPO,Iyana Offa,confirmed that the matter was ”immediately reported at Iyana Offa police station and the DPO sent his men to the scene but before the investigation could commence,there was an intervention from Agodi Area Commander that both parties be brought before him.Hence the case was transferred”.

He stated further: ”A signal acknowledging the receipt of the case from Iyana Offa was sent by the Area Commander to Compol ‘B’ OPS,Ibadan,where he mentioned that traditional rulers from the affected area had been brought before him to explain their roles in the disturbance”.

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the thugs,the Baale said “The woman killed was my brother’s wife. Olabosoye was my father, while Joseph Adelowo was my brother.

“Prior to their July 7,2007, invasion, Amubieya had pasted flyers on our lands, claiming that the land not only belonged to them, a claim they’ve been making since the 30’s, but that it was now vested on him and one Prince Sijuade Mukadas. That was in March. It was three months after that my village was attacked.

“Of course I was afraid and confused. When I saw them(names witheld) kill people, I shouted out their names calling them killers.

“We were herded in like goats and I was matchetted on the head, while others were axed, hit with dangerous weapons. I have been in hiding since. They even traced me to an old friend’s house and threatened to kill us if we didn’t give up the land.

“That was why I moved here again. The police have not done anything to protect us, rather, it is our attackers that they are protecting”, he alleged.”’It’s not true,I didn’t send thugs to harm anybody.

I already told you this.They also alleged that I have bribed the police.How many officers can I bribe?

They don’t have any case”, Amubieya insisted.

Tired of running around, the displaced Sukuru indegenes hired Barr. Gbenga Ojo who has petitioned the Inspector General of Police in July, demanding a thorough investigation of the murder of three family members.

In it, Ojo stated that “the families had lodged a complaint with Oyo State Police Command in Agodi, but one Alhaji Amubieya, who had been using his connection with some Policemen to circument proper investigation, had prevented the command from doing its job.

“This unfortunate situation makes it possible for the attackers to enjoy immunity and freedom from prosecution “,the lawyer expressed.

The Commissioner of Police, and the A.I.G, Zone 11, Osogbo, were copied.

The new Area Commander,Mr.Peter Olanrewaju (ACP) has confirmed to Sunday Tribune that the case has been transferred to the Command as admitted by DPO,Olanrewaju.

He,however,instructed the Station Officer,Mr.Sunday Ezekiel,to supply the file to him by Wednesday. The SO later informed Sunday Tribune it would take a few hours for the file to be found since it had been transferred to the SID being a murder case.He directed Sunday Tribune to come back two days after.

When the reporter got there on Friday as instructed,after being kept waiting for over an hour,Mr. Ezekiel said it would take another hour,which the reporter couldn’t spare as it was nearing production time.

On the information by Ojo that the Inspector General of Police,Onovo, had been petitioned on the lackadaisical attitude of the officers involved, the Principal Staff Officer II to the IGP, ACP Murtala U. Mani, confirmed that “a letter had been written to the Deputy-IG ‘D’ Department, instructing the Police to take necessary action”.

Not sure of his safety,and that of his extended family,the Baale has asked everyone to flee for dear life.”They found me in my first hiding place five days ago.I had to hide in a bush for hours.I can’t reveal my new place because they may injure my host.”,he appealed.

As for the Baale though ,the new CP has promised that no more lives would be lost,nor properties destroyed,as efforts are in place for adequate security for all Oyo State residents.

Only in Nigeria will an issue like this be allowed to linger for up to 70 years. Even the three people killed were not born when the dispute started.

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