Land grabbers on the rampage in Lagos

THERE is a hardly a better illustration of the descent into normlessness and potential anarchy in the country than the epidemic of land grabbing. Scarcely a day goes by without a report in the media about the activities of these nefarious perpetrators. While the phenomenon is witnessed across the country, it happens more frequently and tends to assume a more violent dimension in Lagos, no doubt because of the obvious pressure on land for both residential and commercial purposes.

The modus operandi of the land grabbers, aka Omo Onile, has become familiar: mobilising in large numbers and armed with various dangerous weapons, including guns, arrows and machetes, they swoop on targeted properties and unleash violence with the intention of either forcing the rightful owners of such landed properties to part with considerable sums of money, or scaring away such owners outright. Operating in this manner, land grabbers have left numerous untold deaths in their wake. For example, in July, land grabbers assaulted and killed one Fatai Jubril, a traditional ruler in Lotun Town in the Ibeju Lekki area of Lagos State. According to the state Police Public Relations Officer (PRO), Benjamin Hundeyin, one suspect has been arrested in connection with the killing.

The arrest of a suspect in connection with the killing of Fatai Jubril is significant because it is an example of law enforcement involvement in a phenomenon in which the law has otherwise stood out for its absence. Not only that, in some cases of land grabbing violence, there is evidence to suggest the complicity of law enforcement and the state bureaucracy. For instance, the fact that some land grabbers somehow have access to official state stamps suggests that they have the support of insiders who should ordinarily be weighing in on the side of those who have acquired landed property legally.

It is distressing that a so-called functional society has individuals who dispossess legitimate owners of their land with the sheer use of force, not the dictates of the law. This is a departure from organisation and a relapse into anarchy and disorder, often wantonly and without consequences. Land grabbing is a term that ordinarily reflects the relations in a setting where disorder is the norm and no one is in charge. Unfortunately, Nigeria, calling itself an organised society with a functional government, often allows this disorder to reign supreme, with some people calling themselves land grabbers and scoffing at state power. Land grabbers continue to run amok and inflict pains and agonies in every part of Lagos State, with the government unable to arrest the trend. In the end, lawlessness will lead to the ruin of the entire society and consume everybody, including those in government who allow this anomaly to fester.

The Lagos State government must intervene to arrest the activities of these land grabbers and bring them to book. One effect of their untoward activities has been to dissuade potential developers from investing in landed property, while those who have already invested live in fear for their lives and property. The state can ill afford the ensuing loss of revenue and damage to its reputation. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu must intervene decisively to ensure that the situation does not degenerate into one in which private citizens are forced to take the law into their own hands.

 

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