Land owners, whose ancestral lands were acquired for the Lagos Lekki Free Trade Zone, have appealed to the Lagos State government to honour the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed between them and the government. The families, comprising Eto, Idaso, Idotun and Falade, made the plea in Ikeja, Lagos through their lawyer, Dr Olatunji Abayomi. This is just as they said they were not opposed to economic development coming to their communities or the state as a whole, but that things must be done properly. Also, the Falade Family alleged that the state government was yet to properly acquire their own family hand, as there was no where any member of the family sat with anybody or government official to transfer their land to the government or any entity.
Dr Abayomi said, “This is not the first time we are drawing the attention of the Lagos State government to these issues of egregious injustice to our clients . By a letter dated July 10, 2017, this chambers wrote to the then Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, highlighting the injustice committed by the state government against her own citizens regarding the acquisition of the Lagos Lekki Free Trade Zone Land. In that letter which was received in the office of the governor at about 1.15pn on July 12,2017, we raised several issues with reference to the MoU Lagos State government signed with the communities/owners of the land, noting that the obligations of the Lagos State government under the MoU were unjustly abandoned after Lagos State had effectively taken over the land of these communities.” Abayomi, who presented copies of the MoU, listed the obligations of Lagos State government to include: protection of the rights, interests and welfare of the land owners; submission of Environmental Impact Assessment study to the land owners for review; grant the land owners five percent equity in the Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited, being represented on the board of LWIL, adequate compensation for the land owners among others.
The lawyer added that the state government acknowledged the receipt of the letter in a reply dated July 14,2017 and which was signed by Kola Aileru for the Chief of Staff to the Governor. In the reply, the state government said that the Honourable Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives had been directed to take further action on the matter. Regarding the the Falade Family matter, Abayomi explained that on January 10,2017, his law firm wrote a letter that was received at the Governor’s Office, stating the complaints of the family, regarding the take over of their land without any prior agreement with them.
“Our concern is that the Lagos State government will appear to be contented in exercise of state power to have taken over the land of citizens, that is our clients, without due process instead of assuring maximum justice to her citizens in the process of compulsorily acquiring the land of our clients. In view of the above, we hereby formally declare on behalf of our clients a dispute case and controversy and demand resolution of the controversy within 30 days. Abayomi added that if the matter was not resolved after the deadline, his clients would seek redress in court.
Honour 2007 MoU, land owners in Lekki “Free Trade Zone” plead with Sanwo-Olu
