Governor Dapo Abiodun

*Warns them to steer clear of govt land

Ogun State Government, on Sunday, reiterated its warning to two suspected land grabbers, the Fibiwoga family and Obatop Properties, to steer clear of government-acquired land in the Odogbolu Local Government area of the state.

The Ogun State Government, which handed down this warning following the latter’s reaction to the Thursday, April 3 statement by the Ogun State Ministry of Justice which it exposed their attempt to obtain government land by fraud, said it would not be stampeded or manipulated into yielding an inch of government land to land grabbers.

In a statement by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade ( SAN), the government pointed out that Ogun State’s vast land, industrial corridors, economic development zoning, and exclusive land proximity to Lagos, which have become a gold mine for the state and a magnet for investors, have also attracted land grabbers who use all sorts of methods to illegally acquire land.

These methods, Ogungbade said, include the manipulation of credible institutions such as the media, law enforcement, and the judiciary, without the full knowledge of those institutions.

Saying that Ogun State Government had not overruled the courts and could not do so, Ogungbade said the state is already taking steps to set aside the judgment of the Customary Court which Fibiwoga Family obtained by suppressing relevant facts in the case, adding that “corruption fighting back will not deter us from staunchly defending the government and refusing to be used as tools in the hands of oppressors or lawbreakers.”

Providing a background to the issue, Ogungbade said: “The family brought us into this dispute when they wrote a petition alleging land grabbing against another family – Dada Osisi Family. It was at that meeting that we were first briefed on the issues.

“At the meeting of 3 April 2025 (which was recorded by the press), we made it clear that we were not in a position to decide ownership of the land and were not doing so. But we emphasised that we were notifying the parties that because even the State Government had become a victim of the land grab perpetrated by Fibiwoga Family.

“The public would also recall that in our press statement after that meeting, we advised the public to be wary of dealing with Fibiwoga Family, Obatob Properties Limited *and any other private person* regarding the land. This was because we did not take a side in the dispute. Ogun State Government respects the courts and does not overrule the courts. The judgment of the Customary Court is valid until set aside.

“Because Ogun State Government is directly affected by Fibiwoga Family’s land grab, Ogun State Government is a person aggrieved by the family’s actions. In that regard, Ogun State Government is a party to the dispute but not a party to the judgment of the Customary Court of Appeal.

“By ordinary settled positions of the law, Ogun State Government is not bound by the decision of the Customary Court of Appeal delivered in a case that did not join the Government and making reliefs that were not against the Government.

“The right that we currently assert is the same right that any person, including a private person, would assert if strangers show up on his land claiming that land and presenting a judgment in a suit he never knew of. Ogun State Government is not overruling the court – it is simply refusing to be harassed out of land it properly occupies, on account of a judgment that Fibiwoga obtained in a manifestly improper way.

“Fibiwoga continues to misstate facts. The Customary Court of Appeal never affirmed the judgment of the Customary Court. Rather, the Customary Court of Appeal declined to hear the appeal filed by the Dada Osisi Family because the appeal was filed out of time, which was expected considering that the people who appealed were never served with the suit or judgment. Again, Ogun State was not a party to that appeal anyway.

” Fibiwoga Family has presented a document from the Bureau of Lands and Survey which it uses to buttress its position that some portions of the land in question are free of contrary interest. This, if true, begs the question – why did the Family then draw a survey plan to claim land beyond the free areas? Except with fraudulent intent, how can a family continue to present a survey plan claiming 350 acres of land even after knowing that about 100 acres belong to someone else?”

Ogungbade added that the document Fibiwoga Family presented shows that since September 2024, it had known that it encroached on Ogun State Government land, but it still wrote its petition to the government suppressing this fact and claiming the entire land.

The commissioner added that a criminal charge is pending against Fibiwoga Family and Mr Oluwatobi Obabi, the promoter of Obatob Properties Limited, relating to the same land.

” The charge – MOD/59C/2024 IGP v. Tunde Aderibigbe, Oluwatobi Obabi, and Moshood Lawal – is pending before the Magistrates Court, Odogbolu and was filed by the Police, without involvement of the Ministry of Justice.

“In fact, the Attorney-General became aware of that charge when Fibiwoga presented the charge to him at the meeting of February 2025, with a request for him to intervene on their behalf. The charges pending against them are for conspiracy, forgery and assault causing grievous bodily harm. Since Fibiwoga Family is now all about judicial proceedings, it should announce its pending criminal trial too.”

He added that the steps taken by the Ministry of Justice to combat land grabbing are designed to preserve the confidence of investors who summon scarce resources in the challenging global economic climate to do business in Ogun State.