Residents of Alagbaka Government Reserve Area (GRA) in Akure the Ondo State capital have cried out over alleged defacing and destruction of their properties located in the area by some hoodlums claiming to be the owners of the land.

The landlords under the auspices of Ajayi Elekumo Layout, Alagbaka said not less than 300 houses have been destroyed by some hoodlums who were acting on behalf of a family claiming the ownership of the land in the GRA.

Speaking on behalf of the Landlords, Mr Olusegun Adu-Peters said the family who claim the ownership of the land should not have taken laws into their hands but should have waited until the Court of Appeal of Supreme Court decide the true ownership of the land.

According him, non of the residents of the area can sleep with their two eyes closed due to the activities of the hoodlums.

Adu-Peters said asked the government and security agencies to prevent the breakdown of law and order as those claiming the ownership of the lands are making life unbearable for them.

His words “It is no longer a news that there was a court matter on the Ajayi elekumo land with a fragment of the family.The matter came before former Chief Judge, Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi and it is no longer news that during the trial, two of the lawyers walked out on the Chief Judge and as a matter of Fact , the witnesses were called and there was no cross examination. But be that as it may, the judgment was given and we are not here to question the judgment because I am a lawyer and I cannot question the decision of a court and we are standing on what the judge said.

” We know that if a judgment is done and you are not satisfied, you climb upstairs to address the issue. We now went to the Court of Appeal and filled notice of appeal but the other parties are saying they are not aware of the notice of appeal. We felt embarrass to extent that in a state where there is law, individuals as taken laws into their hands.

When the judgment was given ,they went ahead to deface the properties and the houses that were build in AjAYI Elekumo family layout and did a lot of things to incur the wrought of the community. But we find out that sound minds don’t flex muscle .We believe in forces of logic not the logic of the force. It is of the forces of the logic that we are doing now, that we don’t want to take laws into our hands so that there would not be anarchy in the land. We went to the court and until the final determination of the court; nobody has any power to take laws into his or her hands.

We all know that when you are not satisfied with the decision of the lower court, you have 90 days to go to the court of appeal. Judgment was given just last month and before we know, they’ve taken laws into their hands. They should sheathe their sword.
Several houses has been destroyed. All the entire structure that was built at the community has been defaced. The properties was running to several millions of naira has been destroyed by the other faction. We all know the value of the properties now. We know the cost of the land not to talk of the structures that were built in the area.