Governor of Oyo State, Engr. Seyi Makinde, his Deputy, Barrister Bayo Lawal; the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Adebo Ogundoyin; his Deputy, Muhammed Fadeyi alongside State Police Command and the DSS were on Saturday applauded over the recent arrest of a notorious land grabber in Ibadan, Sesan Olooto by the security agents.
Olooto, presently in the custody of security agents was alleged of several unlawful land grabbing incidents in the city, a development that climaxed about three years ago which made the then Inspector General of Police to summon him to Abuja but he reportedly rebuffed the summon.
A newspaper report had it that Sesan Olooto, believed to be widely connected to some compromised serving and retired police chiefs, traditional rulers and officials of government shunned the invitation of the then Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, over the destruction of a property worth N500 million in Orita Challenge area of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
A Canada-based cleric of The Apostolic Church, Pastor Edward Taiwo Soetan, had written the IGP, seeking help to halt the threat to his life and further destruction of his property by Sesan Olooto and his gang.
On November 7, 2019, a civil rights group, Veteran Organization for Human Rights (VOHRI), also tasked Governor Makinde and the then state commissioner for Police, Mr. Shina Olukolu to intervene in the threat to life of one Mrs. Sekinah Olohunosebi by the trio of Sesan Olootu, Kehinde Apanpa and Falilatu Opadijo over alleged land matters as both Olooto and his gang forcefully took over the an expanse of land belonging to the said complainant.
Sometimes in August, 2020, Justice O S Adeyemi of the Oyo State High Court granted an interlocutory order restraining the Ajingba family, their agents, heirs, successors, privies and assignees from the land popularly known as Aruka/Oguntade near Odo-Okun, Ibadan, pending the determination of the suit they filed.
The family which is being represented by Sesan Bolaji Olooto, Kehinde Apampa, Lamidi Oyewole Ajingba and three others were the claimants in numbered 1/258/19 pending before the court.
But the defendants in an affidavit in support of the application, averred that the claimants had continued to carry out various acts of aggression on the land like violently attacking residents, uprooting pillars, destroying buildings with the police refusing to take any action, and illegally selling to unsuspecting members of the public, land that was still under litigation.
The applicant also accused the claimants (Sesan Olooto and others) of being land grabbers with the intention of taking the land forcefully from them.
But a group of civil society on Saturday described Sesan Olooto’s arrest as long overdue to instill sanity in Ibadan, the State capital.
The group in a statement signed by their State Coordinator, Comrade Ola Adebayo and copies made available to newsmen lauded the State Government’s Anti-Land Grabbing unit for doing a great job to rid the state of criminal elements dispossessing people of their legitimate lands over the years.
The CSO however raised the alarm that some traditional rulers in Ibadan in defiance to the State Government and the Olubadan-In-Council position that all land grabbers be made to face the full wrath of the law, have been making clandestine moves to free Sesan Olooto from the custody.
The group, Pacesetter Volunteers Movement (PVM) warned against such act, just as it expressed special appreciation to the Mogajis in Ibadanland under their association led by Chief Asimiyu Ariori for rising towards ensuring that the likes of Sesan Olooto and other notorious land grabbers are not allowed to continue their illegal trades in the city.
It added that, “any traditional ruler paving way or making efforts to allow the matter to be swept under the carpet should be seen as enemy of Ibadan people and residents and should therefore be warned against such ignominious actions.”
