The Shangisha Landlords’ Association has debunked a statement credited to the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, stating that the state government and the association were negotiating over a disputed parcel of land.

Ayorinde was in April this year reported as stating that the Lagos State government had commenced negotiations with members of the Shangisha Landlords Association with a view to allocating 549 plots of land awarded to them.

The government, the commissioner said, had a number of prime schemes for the resettlement of the landlords as Magodo GRA Phase II had no vacant plots.

He had said, “There is a Supreme Court judgment no doubt, which any state that believes in the rule of law must uphold, and Lagos State is a law-abiding state. Lagos State has entered into negotiations with the successful claimants with a view to finding a resolution that does not affect the residents of Magodo GRA Phase II, while still satisfying the requirement of the judgment.

But at a press conference yesterday, the association’s chairman, Chief Adebayo Adeyiga, said there was no iota of truth in what Ayorinde stated. They also said that despite obtaining a favourable judgment from the Supreme Court in 2012 on the disputed land, and despite the directive of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to the Chief Justice of Lagos State, Justice Funmilayo Atilade, to give them authority to possess the Magodo Scheme II land through her writ of possession of March 16, 2017, the state government had been inhibiting execution of the order in the last five years.

Efforts by our correspondent to obtain Ayorinde’s comments on the association’s latest position were not successful as the commissioner didn’t answer calls to his line, neither did he respond to the text message sent to him.

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE

DATE:05/26/2017