In Major Test of Govs’ Powers as Chief Security Officers, Police Defy Orders from Sanwo-Olu

•Claim they were acting on instructions from higher authorities

•Lagos governor stands his ground, prevails; invites parties to a meeting today

Chiemelie Ezeobi and
Segun James in Lagos

In yet another cruel stab to the heart of Nigeria’s federalism, the power and position of the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and by implication, all state governors in the country as chief security officers of their states, were challenged yesterday by some very junior police officers at the Magodo Phase II Estate in Lagos. The officers, led by one Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Bimbola Oyewole, bluntly refused the governor’s directive to vacate the estate, where they had purportedly gone to effect a court order.

Sanwo-Olu had requested the policemen to vacate the area in order to de-escalate a potentially volatile situation following a Supreme Court judgement on the ownership of some of the lands on which the estate was built. Many believed he was trying to avoid a breakdown of law and order as the parties awaited the resolution of the matter.

In a viral online video watched by THISDAY, the governor was seen at the estate trying to mediate in the faceoff between the estate residents and the policemen, said to have been deployed from Force Headquarters in Abuja. The policemen in company with suspected land grabbers and members of a family had besieged the estate for days in a bid to demolish some properties in execution of a Supreme Court judgement.

Amid the ensuing hullabaloo and the rising tension occasioned by the action of the police, the residents had called on the governor to intervene, which he did by visiting the suburb to see things for himself. Having seen the tension firsthand, he directed the policemen to withdraw, given that it was a case between private individuals and the state government.

But according to Oyewole, the police team were allegedly sent at the behest of the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and, thus, could only be asked to withdraw by them.

In the video, the governor was heard telling the officers at the estate, “Can you call your superiors in Abuja and tell them that the governor is here and as the chief security officer, you don’t have any business being in my state right now and that I want you to disengage right now?”

The CSP was also heard replying, “I am here on the instruction of the Inspector General of Police through the AGF. I am too small or too low to call them. Your Excellency, Sir, you can call them, Sir.”

The governor further asked the number of policemen at the estate, but the CSP replied, “My men are here; they are all over the place, I cannot precisely tell you how many we are. For security purpose, I cannot tell you the number.”

Further attempts by the governor to get Oyewole to disclose the number of the policemen proved abortive. At this time, the governor declared that the presence of the policemen was illegal, adding that he would make calls to the IG and the AGF to ensure the officers left the estate to allow for a peaceful resolution.

He said, “The policemen are not from the Lagos State Police Command. They said they are from Abuja. I don’t know what other interest they have beyond keeping the peace of the country. This is not an expectation that I expect from them because they don’t have any business here.”

Over 549 properties were marked with red, brown, and blue inks, with the inscription: “ID/795/88 Possession Taken Today 21/12/21 by Court Order.”

Since the planned demolition and siege on Magodo Phase II Estate, the police had been harassing the community with members of a family said to be executing the Supreme Court judgement on the ownership of the land on which the properties were built.

But when Sanwo-Olu and members of the state executive council, accompanied by the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, visited the estate, the governor went to the police station within the estate, where he was addressed by Oyewole. The CSP told the governor that the police team had been sent from Abuja to execute the Supreme Court judgement on Magodo Phase II properties.

But the police team leader could not provide the copy of the said judgement, when demanded by the governor, prompting Sanwo-Olu to order the armed policemen to deactivate their operation and leave Lagos in the interest of peace. The officer declined, claiming to be acting on the orders of the AGF and IGP.

After several phone calls to the authorities in Abuja, on whose command the heavily armed policemen were said to be acting, Sanwo-Olu briefed the residents and appealed to the concerned parties to stand down until the matter was resolved.

He, thereafter, invited all the stakeholders to a meeting in his office at 11am this morning, saying the issues called for proper deliberation in the interest of peace.

The governor said, “I’ve spoken extensively with the Inspector General of Police, the Hon. Attorney General, and we’ve resolved all of the issues. So, what we would see is that there’s going to be a total stand down. Tomorrow (today), we’ll be inviting the representatives of the judgement creditors.

“We have actually started a committee meeting, but I want to invite them again officially to my office tomorrow by 11am to come over with two, three of their representatives. The state government will be there, the residents’ association will be there, and the police will also be there, so whatever it is that must have brought about all these troubles and heartaches will need to be brought there.

“We will all go through every line of it and we’ll come to an amicable resolution.”

Sanwo-Olu pleaded with all concerned to help ensure peace in the estate, saying, “I want all of our citizens to go about their lawful businesses knowing full well that nobody will be harassed, or any property trampled upon pending all of these conversations.”

He added, “We will have an extended conversation tomorrow so that we can bring this to a final closure. So, I want to ask the residents, the executives, don’t take the laws into your hands. Just go back home peacefully. The policemen have been recalled.”

Residents claimed that over 20 people were arrested in what they described as an unlawful invasion of their properties. They said most of the property owners were locked up in the name of Supreme Court verdict enforcement.

A resident, Mrs Sabina Adeniyi, said, her son was arrested and locked up at the police station until the governor and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police came to their rescue.

Another resident, Mr Mojeed Jamiu, described the invasion by the police as illegal, and likened the potential outcome to the way the #EndSARS protests escalated. He wondered why the police would take laws into their hands through unlawful invasion of private residences.

The Residents’ Association has, however, petitioned the Lagos State House of Assembly to investigate the invasion of the Magodo GRA Phase II by the police on the directive of the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General of the Federation. The residents, in the petition by Ademorin Kuye and Rotimi Agunsoye, stated that the “residents of Magodo GRA Phase II, Shangisha, Lagos woke up on the morning of December 5, 2021, to the sight of hundreds of arm wedging thugs, stern-looking and fully armed policemen and members of the Shangisha Landlords Association purportedly to execute a judgement.

“Aware also that the judgement that was supposedly being enforced was delivered in 2012 by the Supreme Court in Military Governors of Lagos State & Ors Vs Adebayo Adeyiga & Ors in Appeal No SC/112/2002, wherein the Apex Court Affirmed the judgement of the Court of Appeal and the High Court delivered on the 31st of December 1993 in suit No ID/795/88.

“Further aware that the declaratory judgement of the Supreme Court only recognised the Judgement Creditors as being entitled to the allocation and reallocation of 549 plots of land in Shangisha Village, not possession of any land.

“Cognizant that several attempts have been made by the Lagos State Government from 2012-2015, to settle the matter amicably making different engagements, with the Judgement Creditors presenting a proposal for reallocation in the Magodo Residential Scheme within the Badagry area of the state, which some of them accepted.

“Informed that the Lagos State Government again in 2016, initiated a settlement to reallocate Ibeju Lekki Coastal Scheme located in the Ibeju Lekki Area, but this was rejected by the lead plaintiff, Chief Adebayo Adeyiga, as government continues to dialogue with majority of the Judgement Creditors to reach a concession towards implementing the judgement

“Worried that despite the ongoing settlement efforts and the pendency of an interlocutory injunction dated December 1st, 2020, before the Court of Appeal, seeking an order restraining him and his agents, Chief Adeyiga purportedly encouraged by the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police, stormed the estate with unknown bailiffs and armed security operatives to execute a judgement that was purportedly delivered by Lagos High Court.

“Worried that the execution being presently executed through the office of the AGF with the connivance of the IGP is illegal as only the Lagos State Deputy Sheriff can execute same and not thugs aided by policemen.

“More worried that the highhandedness and reckless show of force on the 5th of December 2021 and the 4th day of January 2022 in Magodo by Chief Adeyiga and his cohorts in blatant disregard to Order 8 Rule 17 of the Supreme Court Rules 2014 and Section 37 of the Enforcement of Judgement and Order Part III of the Sherriff and Civil Process Act, LFN 2004 can lead to loss of lives and properties and ultimately breakdown of law and order.

“Most Worried the Attorney General of the Federation is destabilising Lagos State by using his office to back this illegality as a meddlesome interloper and the instrumentality of state – the Nigerian Police Force and their illegal Court Bailiffs, to scuttle ongoing settlement between the Lagos State Government, Magodo GRA 2 Residents and the Judgement Creditors.”

The people, therefore, urged the Lagos Assembly Committees on Justice, Public Petition and Police “to investigate the involvement of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police in the attempt to destabilise the peace of Lagos State, scuttle the ongoing settlement process and enforce an illegality.”

They also urged the legislature to “recommend appropriate sanction for any officer found culpable in the illegal enforcement and breakdown of law and order.”