Lalekan Are’s family insists on ownership of 58-year-old Ibadan property

The ownership of a 20-acre plot of land behind Bode Foam, Galilee Area, Oki, Olodo, Ibadan, acquired in 1968 by a prominent Ibadan indigene, the late Dr Lalekan Are, is being contested by the Akindipe family.

One of the beneficiaries of the estate of Dr Are, Mr Adedamola Are, spoke with The PUNCH in Ibadan about the trespass on the property and vandalism by hoodlums.

He said: “Dr Are purchased the land from the Gbadamosi family in 1968. We have the Indenture of 1968 and the Certificate of Statutory Rights of Occupancy obtained in 1982.

“There is a judgment where the case instituted against Dr Lekan Are by one Nasiru Alawode and others was dismissed by the court.

“What we are now being told is that the Akindipe family is claiming that a significant portion of the land in Oki Community, Olodo Area of which Dr Are’s land is a small part of, belongs to them.”

He recounted how the farm was invaded by those he claimed were land grabbers and how the farm manager and the security guard were arrested and detained by the police.

He said: “The land was invaded by some land grabbers accompanied by some police officers from the Monitoring Unit of the Oyo State Police Command, Eleyele, about a month and a half ago.

“The farm manager who was working on the farm along with the security guard were arrested and detained for defending themselves against the intruders.

“So, they were arrested anyway and locked up at Eleyele police Headquarters, but our lawyer later secured their bail after seven days.

“The police said they were arrested and detained because they could not produce the owner of the land.”

Explaining how the latest invasion of the land happened, Are said: “Everybody thought that was the end of the matter after the farm manager was released. But a few weeks ago, the hoodlums jumped over the fence again; they put their own padlock on the gate and kicked everybody off the farm.

“The farm workers were taking care of the piggery because we had about 51 pigs at that time. And the workers were forcibly and violently driven off the land…

“They bulldozed several citrus and mango trees. They destroyed the pipe network; they broke the wiring, they destroyed several of the trees, and they stole the generators from the farm, and there were only 25 pigs alive as of the last report,” Are said.

He added that he brought the matter before the police and was directed to the same Monitoring Unit of the Eleyele Police Command, which went with him to the land in Oki and arrested some people.

He said: “The Police Monitoring Unit went to the farm and they met two men cutting down the trees with chain saws, met the surveyors and a total of six people.

“They chopped down a significant portion of the 1,000 Brazilian Teak trees planted around the perimeter; they have cleared a lot of the citrus, they have cleared a lot of the topsoil.

“They also brought their own brick-making machine, and a signboard showing that their real estate company has started selling parcels of the land. They were picked up and taken to the Monitoring Unit at the Police Headquarters, Eleyele.

“That same evening, they were released. The police said they were released because the Akindipe family claimed that the case is in court.

“The police said that until judgment is delivered, there is nothing they can do. They refused to warn them not to invade the land or destroy the economic trees while a case is pending in court.”

Mr Are expressed reservations about the police interpretation of the status quo binding both parties regarding the land pending determination of the suit.

He said: “The information from the police department is that since the case is still in court, until judgment is passed, nobody should do anything on the land.

“And since that conversation with the police department, the people have come back harassing the workers and the security, and driven them off.

“They told the farm manager not to come back to the farm to take care of the animals. They are clearing the place as of today, and those are the pictures and the videos I sent to you. We can’t even remove the pigs and see no reason to remove them because it’s our land.”

Delving deeper into the history of the land, Mr Are disclosed that the land purchased in 1968 by Dr Are was initially used for farm poultry in 1984, which ran for a decade before it was shut down.

He said: “Dr Lekan Are purchased 25 acres of the land in 1968, and later on he gave five acres of it to his very close friend, Chief Bode Amoo, where he built Bode Foam.

“There was the Lekan Are Poultry that was in operation for about a decade before it was shut down.

“At that point, a gentleman and a Lebanese named Mr George, who operated Bronco Farms and is still in Ibadan, leased it from Dr Are for about a decade. He used the existing three poultry houses and the existing poultry cages to operate his own poultry. After he stopped operating his poultry for about 10 years, the bush grew in the farm area.

“In 2013, I cleared the land and removed almost 1,000 trees and planted, along with the security guard, about 1,000 citrus consisting of oranges, grapefruits and lemons.

“On the perimeter along the wall, which the security had already fenced, I planted 1,000 Brazilian Teak. Already existing, as part of Dr Are’s research, was the planting as far back as the 1970s of 82 mango trees of the Mali Keita variety. They are much larger than the Nigerian mango. We were also leasing out the land to ourselves for the purpose of growing cassava, and we did that from 2021 to 2025.”

He added: “Many of the animals on the land have been killed or stolen. The water supply system through borehole and pipes was destroyed. The electricals have been vandalised. The two generator sets that are on the land being used by the farm manager were stolen along with some of the supplies.

“And then the supervisor, along with the security, were kicked off the land. The farm manager had to move his wife and children out of the farm because of the threats to their lives.”

Mr Are disclosed further that the case on the land had already gone to court before the recent encroachment.

He said: “This is not the first time that a case like this has gone to court. Previously, judgment was given in favour of Dr Are concerning the land.”

Mr Are said the documents for the purchase are intact, adding that the question anyone should be asking is: Why hasn’t anybody come to claim the land in the past 58 years?

He said he had reported the matter to the police, the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja and also the Oyo State anti-land grabbing agency.

Also speaking with The PUNCH on the land matter, the Are’s family lawyer, Ben Ogunjobi, asserted that his client owns the land.

He said: “They went to court claiming ownership of the land and we said, ‘We don’t have a problem with you. However, let the case continue as we are in possession’.

“They came overnight, brought in a bulldozer and cleared the whole place, the crops and the buildings.

“And when we went to the police just to make a report of what had happened, curiously the police said they could not ask the people who came with thugs to chase the farm manager and the security out of the land after beating them, to vacate the land.

“We want peace, and we are still in possession as far as we are concerned. They are the ones who went to court, but what we request from any reasonable person is that they let us maintain the status quo pending the determination of the ownership of the land.

“That if the court ends up saying we are not the owner, then we know what to do. But if the court says we are the owner, we also know what to do. They deliberately carried out this heinous act while the court was on vacation.”

Ogunjobi hinted at the game plan of the intruders, which, according to him, was to take over the 20 acres of land at Oki Village owned by Dr Are, which is just a fraction of the entire Oki community.

He said: “The target all along has been Chief Are’s 20-acre plot of land, not the Oki community land because a major portion of the Oki community has already been built up, and the 20 acres is a farm which houses the farm manager and his family.”

Responding to a question on what to do amidst the prevailing situation, Ogunjobi said: “We have available options, but of course the police is compromised. We don’t trust the police in respect to this matter, because it seems these people have spread their tentacles within the police force.

“Asking them to even maintain peace in this matter is useless; the police said they could not ask the hoodlums to leave the land even pending the time the court will determine the case, but the same unit of the police could detain our client’s farm manager for seven days when the same case is in court.

“So, we don’t trust the police because of their double standards in respect to this matter, but we will explore all peaceful options.”

Reacting to the role of the police in the dispute, the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ayanlade Olayinka, said: “The allegation of double standards is unfounded and does not reflect the true position of events.

“Upon receipt of the complaint relating to the land ownership dispute, the police carried out necessary preliminary actions and subsequently charged the matter to court for judicial determination.

“Given that the subject matter is now before a competent court of law, the police cannot lawfully undertake enforcement actions such as forcefully evacuating or removing occupants from the disputed property without a valid court order, as doing so may amount to interference with an issue already under judicial consideration.

“The command remains committed to professionalism, neutrality, and respect for the rule of law and will continue to act strictly within the confines of the law.”

The 20 acres of land being contested by land grabbers is located on the outskirts of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, with proximity to Erunmu town.