Residents of Millennium Estate, Shasha, in the Egbeda area of Lagos State are no longer at ease.
On October 1, they woke up to hear the tumults of some suspected hoodlums, who laid siege to the estate and threatened to demolish the houses there.
The residents toldPUNCH Metrothat the gun-trotting men said they were acting on a court order which gave ownership of the estate to 10 persons, including the Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola.
Our correspondent was told that it took the intervention of policemen from the Shasha Police Division, Afonka, to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
The security guard at the gate was said to have fled his duty post and run to the station as soon as the hoodlums threatened mayhem.
The Chairman of the estate, Femi Ajetunmobi, told our correspondent that he bought his flat through the housing scheme of a former state governor, Bola Tinubu, in 2008.
He said he later moved in in December 2009, adding that there had never been any cause for alarm until December 2014.
“Trouble started last year when some people sent a letter to us, saying we should come to their office with our land document, because they had won a court case which gave them the estate’s land.
“We wrote to the Lagos State Ministry of Housing on the letter, and the government replied the lawyer on our behalf. We thought that was the end.
“In May 2015, the lawyer wrote us again, and we forwarded his letter to the ministry.”
He said on October 1, some hoodlums allegedly stormed the estate.
“They began to write ‘possession taken’ on the walls of the houses in the estate.
“We repelled them and reported to policemen at the Shasha division. But they gave us a copy of a court judgement which gave them ownership of the land.
[/media-credit] The estate; inset: the letter
“We thought that would be the end, but on Saturday afternoon, October 3, after we met the DPO, they came and said they would eject us by force.
“They were about 30 to 40 in number and they were fully armed; they were not policemen. They didn’t allow anybody to move out or into the estate. They wrote a contact number on the wall that we should call them. We are afraid for our lives.”
Our correspondent was shown a copy of the judgment of a Federal High Court, dated February 26, 2014.
The judgment listed 10 persons, including Aregbesola, as the applicants, while the Inspector General of Police, the Deputy Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, a former Lagos Governor, Babatunde Fashola, among five others, as respondents.
The judgment, signed by the Assistant Registrar of the Federal High Court, E.O. Adaka, said the court approved an ex parte motion ordering the police to give policemen to the bailiffs to enforce another judgment dated January 31, 2014.
A letter dated October 28, 2014, from one of the solicitors to the applicants, said the residents should present their documents.
The letter said, “Our client has instructed us to demand your documents in respect of the piece of land being occupied by you and such documents should be forwarded to our chambers within seven days from the service of this letter.
“Further to the above, we have been instructed to demand that any further dealing with other person in relation to this property should cease.
“…in the event of your not complying with our client’s instructions, you are required to give vacant possession of land you occupy on or before November 11, 2014.”
The residents had written three separate letters to the Ministry of Housing and the state governor, dated November 4, 2014; May 7, 2015; and October 1, 2015, claiming threat to lives and property.
The Ministry, in turn, had replied the solicitor on June 2, 2015, saying, “You are advised to desist from acts of intimidation on lawful residents of the estate…”
But despite the exchange of correspondence, the residents of the Millennium Estate said they had no rest as the hoodlums had threatened to break into their homes.
They said they had stopped using one of their two gates, due to fear of attacks.
The General Secretary of the community, Salawu Muyideen, said he believed the hoodlums had the backing of some “powerful people” in the society.
He said, “There is a fenced property beside us, which was supposed to be the phase 2 of this place. In fact, construction works had started and structures erected, when these men wrote ‘possession taken’ on the walls last year.
“Later, they demolished all the structures. They turned the place into their den. From there, they attacked residents and robbed passersby.
“It was after they succeeded there that they decided to extend their territory here.”

Muyideen, who explained that the estate also served as staff quarters to workers of the Lagos State University College of Medicine, said three other blocks were occupied by people whose lands were taken over by the government.
He said all the occupants of the estate had their valid documents, wondering why the government had refused to confront the hoodlums headlong.
Muyiwa said, “The question we want to ask is, do they really have a judgment giving them ownership of this land? If yes, why has the government failed to act on our behalf because we bought the land from it?
“Why is it that after writing so many letters, nothing has been done? To what extent is the governor of Osun State involved because his name is clearly stated in the suit?”
An aged woman, Ramota Noah, who claimed to be among those resettled by the government, implored the state Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, to defend them.
“Do they want to throw me out at my age? It has been up to eight years that Fashola brought us here after Tinubu removed us from our property which they used to build a plaza.
“It was because the government demolished our houses and resettled us here that we have found ourselves here. We all have our documents,” she said.
A solicitor for one of the applicants, when contacted on the telephone, toldPUNCH Metrothat he never used any hoodlums to take possession of the property.
He said he was acting on behalf of his client who had a court judgement which gave him ownership of the property.
He said, “It is just a hearsay. I am not using any hoodlums. If you have seen a copy of the court judgment, then you will understand better. I will not say more than that.”
Our correspondent could not get a reaction from the Lagos State Government as nobody was ready to talk about the incident in the Ministry of Housing.
The spokesperson for the Osun State Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, promised to get back to our correspondent, but had yet to do so.