Ajimobi, enforce real property protection law

Not quite long ago, the Oyo State government signed the Real Properties Protection Law 2016, also known as the Anti-landgrabbing law.

This law aims to guard against landgrabbing, encroaching on other people’s properties and other issues faced by land and property owners in Oyo State.

Property and land owners are being confronted by the landgrabbers also known as Omo Onile through forceful confiscation of their properties.

The law states that “Any person who, without lawful authority, uses or threatens violence for the purpose of grabbing any real property for himself or any other person; commits an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment of 15 years or a fine of N500,000 or both.”

This law also says that “any person who offers for sale any property knowing that he has no lawful title to the property or authority of the owner or sells a property knowing that he has no lawful title to the property or that the property has been previously sold by him or his previews is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for five years.”

This law is good and timely going by the fact that the same law has been enacted in other states, which tends to drive these culprits to Oyo State. The enactment of the law will prevent these landgrabbers from having free reign in Oyo State.

The law will help to reduce to the lowest minimum the various hazards like loss of lives, properties, rape, molestation, among others.

However, as much as the government is appreciated for this law, it should ensure that the law is properly rooted. The law should bite and not just bark.  This can be achieved by the judiciary giving prompt judgments on any land issue/complaints brought before them.

Dupe Taiwo

Ibadan, Oyo State.