N16bn Ibadan Land Case: Video Recording Exposes Defendant As Claimant !

The video recording of the granting of Power of Attorney by some families in Ibadan to‎ STAD Property Limited to recover 404.74 hectares of land, near Nihort, Idi Ishin in Ibadan valued at over N16bn from the Federal Government but which has now become a subject of litigation  has shown that the exercise took place in the residence of Chief Hassan Lasokun, now one of the principal defendants.

‎This was revealed at the resumed hearing of the case before Justice Adegboye Gbolagunte of the Oyo State High Court, Basorun MKO Abiola Way (former Ring Road), Ibadan where the court watched the video tapes, marked as 'Exhibit K and K1'.


Following the non-release of 404.74 hectares of land formerly acquired by the Federal Government to the owner families,a case was instituted against the Oyo State Governor, Sen. Abiola Ajimobi and two of his commissioners, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice as well as his Land, Housing and Survey counterpart by the families.

In attendance at the meeting presided over by Chief Lasokun in his residence in 2010 where the families appointed STAD Property as their agent according to Mr. Timothy Afolabi, the Video cameraman when being led in evidence by counsel to the claimants, Barrister Olayinka Abiose‎ were Alhaji Tade Lasisi who represented Tade family, Alhaji Lasisi Abaya who stood in for Abaya family and Prince Ganiyu Oladigbolu who represented Omo family.

In the video tapes, Chief Hassan Lasokun narrated how his fore-father, Lasokun accompanied Iba-Oluyole to Ibadan and declared that the land in dispute today was where Lasokun and his followers settled down when they arrived.
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Afolabi, who was the second prosecution witness noted that the video coverage covered the STAD meetings with the families for two days and the coverage of the land particularly, the boundaries.

It would be recalled that the first prosecution witness, Chief Ganiyu Oladigbolu had told the court that the Federal Government in 1914 acquired the above stated land from the families without compensation. 

He said that the size of each family's land was not demarcated, so he could not say the exact size of each family's portion.

Oladigbolu, being the Secretary of Concerned Families Owner of the Land also tendered before the court letter of agreement dated June 16th, 2010 in which the family gave power of attorney to STAD Property Nigeria Ltd to facilitate the recovery of the land in dispute from the Federal Government which was admitted as 'Exhibit B'.
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Further hearing has been adjourned by the trial judge to Friday, 29th April 2016.

 
By Dele Ogunsola,
Ibadan


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