Shangisha/Magodo: Kingship war looms in Lagos’ rich community

LANRE ADEWOLE and MATTHEW ASABOR tried to make sense of the claims and counter-claims to a town with two kings, loads of cash and plenty of trouble.

Shangisha/Magodo, a small town in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State has come into a “sudden” wealth and a “sudden” trouble. A kingship war looms there, so soon after a court judgement that awarded ownership of the multi-billion naira land to the original owners.

In stricter sense, both the fortune and trouble may not be completely sudden as they are products of many years of making, but the fact that both are coming into fruition at the same time in the life of the town is almost beyond mere coincidence and leaders of the town, who claim to know, are ready to swear by their disputed ancestry that the burgeoning crisis is a deliberate attempt to corner the gold mine the town just hit.

In the community, tension now walks on two legs. One could almost hold it when Saturday Tribune visited. The elders, community leaders, youths, women and even religious and traditional institutions are in war mood with both the Lagos State government and the newly crowned king for the community, the Onishangisha of Shangisha/Magodo, Jamiu Adetola Ajibola Lawal Aileru I.

One of the three Community Development Association chairmen in the town, Alhaji Fatai Bello of Shangisha North captured the crisis this way: “We heard about it and at the end of the day nothing happened because if an oba is coming here, the community should see and know him. They just want to take chances and we are not aware of any oba’s installation in Shangisha.”

The genesis

Nearly everything about the town is controversial, including the nomenclature; Shangisha/Magodo. Community leaders explain the compound name. According to Bello, the entire high-octane multi-billion Naira estate now known as Magodo Phase 2 originally belonged to Shangisha but was appropriated by government for recreation centres and gardens only for wealthy Nigerians to bombard the place with wonder-on-the-land architecture, turning it to arguably the most expensive portion of land in the state, given its numerous geographically advantages, compared to locations of such quality on Lagos Island.

An estate valuer in Magodo Estate, Alhaji Laide Oshikoya, put the current value of a plot of land in Magodo Phase 2, which has owners like Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State among other heavyweights, at N100 million and despite being expensive, the estate has remained one huge construction site, with developers streaming in daily.

“Shangisha should allow for peaceful settlement and consider the huge opportunities that Magodo Estate has brought to the community,” he admonished.

The icing on the cake for Shangisha came with a Supreme Court judgement returning the entirety of Magodo Phase 2 to it and by implication its traditional institution and the descendants of the original land owners coming into a gold mine.

In the past weeks, activities have been in frenetic pace for the acquisition, following the order of execution of the reported five year-old judgement by the apex court. Interestingly, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, is said to be one of the five justices that heard the matter and awarded judgement to Shangisha. Now, Magodo Phase 2 and all its powerful occupants are at the mercy of Shangisha, the community the “big men” allegedly used to hold in contempt as being of low status.

Saturday Tribune is privy to negotiation between the Magodo heavyweights and Shangisha community to forestall the threatened demolition but whatever way it goes, Shangisha community is the winner on all sides, with billions of Naira expected in its coffers from possible renegotiation of the returned plots and total takeover of yet-to-be allocated plots.

The tussle

But when Shangisha should be savouring its new status as landlord to moneybags, the age-long chieftaincy crisis which the community leaders thought had gone with the death of one of the main claimants, Abayomi Owulade, suddenly came to the fore again and this time with a bang. Despite having a sitting baale, Chief Mutiu Ogundare, who was said to be already savouring his upgrade by the Lagos State government to an oba, the state government approved the appointment of the new Onishangisha and crowned him on 28 April.

With the coronation at CMD Road, witnessed by other traditional rulers in the state and the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Oba Lawal is the officially recognised traditional ruler of the wealthy community but findings showed he has no house in the community, never lived there and the residents are saying he is not welcome there. In fact, at the main gates to the community, boldly hung, was a fairly huge portrait of the baale, with the community proclaiming him “the oba-elect”.

The three CDAs’ leadership in Shangisha – Irepodun, Unity Close and Shangisha North – is said to be behind Baale Ogundare.

To show how palpable tension is in the community, Oba Lawal is yet to visit, and every indication points to him ruling from his Oregun abode.

Settler/indigene question

Speaking with Saturday Tribune, Alhaji Fatai Bello alleged that they had found out the people who were trying “to force one Jamiu Lawal as an Oba” on them. Names of some top government functionaries were mentioned, with a very senior functionary being fingered as the arrowhead. The said senior official recently had a land issue with a United States-based widow in Magodo, they claimed. The Shangisha elders believe the huge land fortune coming to the community could be the focus.

When Saturday Tribune got across to the embattled monarch to ask why he would be an oba on a community where he had no ancestral links, he dismissed all allegations and tagged the baale and others as settlers.

The Eletu of Shangisha/Magodo, Chief Mutiu Olanrewaju Kasali, who spoke on behalf of Oba Lawal, claimed that the people of Shangisha were visitors from Ibadan who settled in the community and, for that reason, are without any rights to become an oba in another man’s land.

But the CDA chairman, Alhaji Bello said, the claim had nothing to do with the matter on ground as Shangisha is now a town and it has come to stay. “They are from a royal family and three baales have emerged from this community – his grandfather, his father and himself – and there has never been anything like an oba here. As far as I am concerned, we have a baale here and what he is saying, that somebody is from somewhere, I don’t understand. He himself might have come from somewhere else. I don’t know where he might have come from but they are not here; they are in Oregun and this is Shangisha and the expressway is the division between us and everyone knows that from day one. He should come and show us where their past leaders were buried. People come to settle. Some people came and settled where they call Ife, Ibadan today. What he is saying is not correct as far I am concerned,” Alhaji Bello said.

The oba’s spokesman stressed that the problem they are facing today is the construction of the expressway that now demarcates Oregun and Shangisha. He claimed that before now, they normally trekked from Oregun to Shangisha, which according to him, was their kola nut farmland then.

Alhaji Bello countered by saying that going by the Eletu’s claim, Oba Lawal’s heritage is in Oregun and what they would have is the Oba of Oregun. He said people came to settle in Ketu and today they have two obas. “We are Shangisha and we have nothing to do with Oregun. He is coming to become an oba in Shangisha without having any house or business in the community. The matter on ground is not land but obaship. I am talking on behalf of the community and we will not allow anyone to impose anybody on us. We don’t have oba in Shangisha but baale, a fact which is well known to us.”

Fireworks

Speaking on the issue, the CDA chairman for Irepodun North in Shangisha/Magodo, Mr Oluwashola Orebanwo, said he realised that politics had taken away tradition. “They are taking away tradition and replacing it with politics. What do you call settlement, when you have a town and a ruling lineage for the past 40 years? They have been doing the ruling, taking care of the community, gathering people together, making sure things are done well, making sure people are well organised and even at the LGA and, indeed, everywhere, they know him as baale. After 40 years, you are telling me that same person and family is not worthy to be an oba.

“This party is not for the people and if they are, how could they tell someone that has lived in a community for 40 years that he cannot be an oba. How old was the commissioner (Commissioner of Local Government and Community Affairs) that judged him (baale) 40 years ago? Even the guy (Oba Lawal) we are talking about, how old was he 40 years ago? I have not witnessed this family up to 40 years in this community and I must tell you they have done wonderfully looking after the community. It is just the government that is trying to create chaos, confusion, war, when there is nothing there. This government is playing from the wrong angle.

“If you are going to govern a community, at least you have to visit the community. Ask him if he has been here as an oba and ruling from where? As I am here, I don’t know about any coronation that happened anywhere. I am ashamed seeing this happen. I can’t imagine it. What did they want to gain out of this confusion? Are they looking for people to die? Are they looking for war?”

When asked what step the community is taking now that an oba had been crowned, he said when they get to the bridge, they would cross it and whoever deserves to be the oba should come to the community and present himself.

“When we were growing up, when an oba was to be crowned, markets would be closed, crowds would gather and the town crier would be going round and making noise over it. I am sure nobody in this community knows anything about an oba. I am not supporting anybody; I am just supporting good governance which has been played in a wrong way here. I am aware some people are working on it and they are the ones supporting the guy but I will tell them that the power of the people is so strong and you don’t take it for granted.”

‘This has been on since 1976’

The installed oba’s spokesman went down the memory lane. He said in 1976, the grandfather of the man “parading himself as the baale” made a move to become an oba and took the matter to court, which lasted four years and Justice A. Desalu of the Lagos State High Court gave judgement in the suit no ID/302/76L in favour of their family.

He added that some years later, his father made same move and by the time they got to know, their late father also halted the move, that they don’t have the right to become an oba in that community.

According to him, “the Lagos State government set up a committee which comprised four obas to look into the matter. After their findings, they discovered that the land belongs to us. Mutairu, the father of the present baale, does not have the right to become anything in that community because they are from Ibadan.

“Our father told us that Mutairu came to plead with him to give him grace to become the baale of the place which my father rejected; that he could not sell his right to a stranger.”

He said further that in 2004, there was a report of an inquiry into the request for restoration of obaship or, alternatively, for the upgrading of baaleship of Shangisha in Kosofe Local Government Area. The report, submitted by Justice A. O. Silva, according to him, was also in their favour, that the other party didn’t have any right to become the oba of that community.

He said the submission was also challenged at the Lagos State High Court and this time around joining Lagos government in the suit no ID/276/M/2007 and judgement was given in their favour by Justice Mash before they proceeded to the Court of Appeal in 2008. He added that the law states that when a judgement is given, you have only three months to appeal.

“We started the process of becoming an oba in that place. About three years later, we were invited to Kosofe LGA with them in order for us to allow them to become an oba, which we refused despite the fact that they requested that an MoU be done. We were also invited to Ikosi/Isheri LCDA with the obas and baales and we also told them we can’t grant their request and that the matter has been on since 1976 and also so many judgements have been given in our favour and evidence were showed to them. And God answered our prayers, the Lagos government approved the obaship in our favour and he was installed on 28th of April 2017.”

Baale’s  defence

When asked by Saturday Tribune if he was aware of the suit filed by his late grandfather in 1976 and the judgement given in 1980, the Baale of Shangisha/Magodo, Chief Mutiu Ogundare, was interrupted by Mr Fatai Bello, the CDA chairman of Shangisha North, who instructed him to say he didn’t know. “Baale, don’t answer that question, because the matter is in court and anything you say can be used against us in court,” Bello said.

Asked if he was aware of the tribunal that was set up in 2007, the baale answered in the affirmative. He said it was one Abayomi Owulade vs Mutairu and that the gazette was cancelled by the Lagos State government and he had a copy of it.

The baale said the obaship of Shangisha/Magodo was approved in 2007 and was given to Owulade and Lagos cancelled that gazette because it was “fraud” and that was when the contest for obaship stopped.

Reacting to the suit filed by his father at Lagos State High Court in 2007, which the installed oba claimed was ruled in his favour, the baale said the Shobaloju and Oshoro families went ahead to get a “fraudulent” gazette and the state government cancelled it.

“Since then, we never heard anything like obaship and all the court rulings you are talking about were all cancelled by the Lagos State government alongside the gazette, and ever since, they never showed up until the death of my father and Owulade in 2012.”

Reacting to the claim as to when the problem of obaship started, he said his father became the baale in 1985 and was gazetted in 1991 and by 1995, he applied for obaship and that was when the battle began.

He narrated that one man named Owulade came to the community to sell land on behalf of the family and later joined forces with the Oregun family to hijack the obaship from his father. He also denied the claim that his forefathers were from Ibadan, stressing that people from Oregun came to marry from Shangisha and that his father’s sister gave birth to all the children in Oregun.

Rude shock

A community leader in Shangisha North, Alhaji Dairo, said the installation of the oba came as a shock as they woke one morning to realise that an oba had been installed and to make matters worse, the person installed was an alien to them. “They brought him from Oregun to become oba over us. When the grandfather of the present baale became the baale, why was there no opposition? They gave him consent to become the baale and now that he wants to become an oba, they started raising dust and this can never be possible,” he said.

A member of the community, Sherifat Adeniji, said she bought her land from the father of the present baale of the community 40 years ago and he was the only one in the community then. She said people normally trekked from Ketu to Shangisha as there was nothing like expressway in the community then. She said she didn’t know anyone from Oregun. “I bought the land from Mutairu Ogundare, the then baale. So, for someone from nowhere to become an oba in our community is a great shock to us,” she said.

Onikosi speaks

When Saturday Tribune got to the palace of Onikosi of Ikosi land, Oba Alamu Oloyede Kehinde Edun Arobadi I, he said according to history, “Shangisha belongs to the Baale of Oregun but before now, the Oje from Ikara settled on the land and they assisted our father in thrift collection. One of them married the elder sister of my mother in Agboyin now in Agboyin Ketu LCDA and her name is Ajikatu and I know her very well.

“Oregun people don’t live there, they only farm there. Civilisation had not come then, the society was not wide then and all these places were covered with bushes. What you had there then were not more than three houses but what brought them there? That I don’t know, but I heard Oregun people own the land,” he said.

How did settlers become baale in a land not belonging to them even with the real owners alive?

The Onikosi explained: “They have been there for a long time, even before I was born and I am 78 years old now. The mistakes our fathers made then was, they gave lands to people without proper documentation and these people grow old and die without telling their children any history about the land and generations going to about six will not believe the land is not theirs since their fathers did not inform them of anything of such.

“They later went to court, and that was when I heard again that the land belonged to Oregun people. Initially, Oregun people did not have interest in becoming anything in Shangisha until Alhaji Lawal brought one Owulade to become an oba. That was when the obas rose up that it was not possible, because he was from Abeokuta; that if Oregun people would not recommend someone, then they should forget it. If Alhaji Lawal had shown interest in becoming an oba, all obas in Lagos State would have supported him. That is the reason they went to look for someone who later became the oba today”.

We followed due process –Govt

The Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Muslim Folami, insisted the entire procedure followed due process.

“The selection and installation of the monarch (Oba Lawal) followed due process. In fact, his appointment was approved by the exco and followed the appropriate process. What we do, we apply due diligence. The oba that we discussed at the exco and approved his nomination must be installed.”