No fewer than thirty carefully selected homicide detectives drawn from the Force Criminal Investigations Department (FCID) Abuja,the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) arrived Lagos this morning to investigate the remote cause of blood -letting activity that led to the Killing of a police officer who died in line of duty during an unprovoked attack by some heartless social miscreants at Etegbin Village (Olubode Egbin) in Ojo Local Government area of Lagos State.
The blood thirsty hounds were also said to have been responsible for the sudden disappearance of twelve others whose whereabouts is still shrouded a mystery.
The arrival of the top-rated police officers were said to have the nod of the Inspector General of Police who mandated the officers to carry out a discreet investigation on the matter with the view to fish out those who were responsible for the dastardly act.
The office of the IGP had earlier received a flurry of petitions in connection with the heart shattering incident which occurred weeks back.
It was initially suspected that ,the casualty-ridden incident was the handiwork of some hoodlums who disguised as land grabbers.
A week long checks of the activities at Etegbin revealed that, some yet to be identified gangsters who were said to have armed themselves with guns, machetes, axes ,charms and other dangerous weapons, penultimate week invaded the village to torment the owners of the land. In doing this,the policemen stationed in the community to see to the smooth taking of possession of land by one Adeoku family after which a competent court declared the family as the rightful owner of the landed property were caught napping and in the process brutalized.
Further checks revealed that, one , Mrs. Omowunmi Adewale, a local caterer was also caught unawares by the hoodlums who attempted to hack her to death.
Adewale said that she works as a caterer at the site only for her to be suddenly attacked by armed thugs who were chanting war songs.” One of them attempted hacking me with a cutlass.It was mother luck for me as some policemen arrived from a nearby division which made my attacker to flee”.
Indepth investigations revealed that, there had been a lingering tussle between one Adeoku Family and another family over the legal ownership of hectares of land in the community. The matter was adjudicated upon by Justice O. Oshodi of the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, who, after listening to the two parties delivered judgment in favour of the Adeoku Family.
That was in the year 2013 which consequently led to a possession order given by the court .
A pile of documents made available to our Correspondent also indicated that, a certificate of warrant of possession otherwise called Form ‘O’ was consequentially issued to the family of Adeoku to take legally ,the possession of the expanse of land.
Subsequently, a team of 17 policemen drafted from the Zone 2 Police Headquarters, Lagos and the court sheriffs executed the warrant of possession on February 11, 2022.
It was in the course of taking repossession of the landed property by the victorious family that a spurious alarm signal was sent to the state authorities informing them that some persons suspected to be land grabbers had illegally stormed the quiet Etegbin community to cause trouble.
The unsuspecting state government, it was gathered, wasted little or no time in dispatch a delegation led by the Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Dr. Wale Ahmed, to Etegbin with the view to confirm,, assess and report back their findings about the alleged invasion by hoodlums with the view to averting a breakdown of law and order.
Also on the entourage was the State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Cornelius Ojelabi,
who, during the visit, had suggested that that ,the parties to the tussle would be invited to a roundtable to resolve the matter amicably.
The visitation made by the delegation was also said to have apparently provided a leeway for the hoodlums to raise the bar of violence against the police officers and other law abiding citizens,just as both economic and social activities were paralysed for several hours.” The bloody clash took place after which the delegates had departed.”
Adeoku Family of Etegbin got judgement in their favour in suit no ID/2370/94; CA/L/415/03 and BDM /6M/2009 dated 8th September 2013 and revalidation of possession to give credence to the judgment for the second time was carried out on Friday, February 11, 2022.
-Owolola Adebola
