RESIDENTS OF GRACELAND ESTATE, ABEOKUTA GRAMMAR SCHOOL OLD STUDENTS FIGHT OVER LAND OWNERSHIP

Residents of Graceland Estate in the Olokuta community said some members of the alumni association invaded their community in the early hours of Monday to destroy a new building worth N30m. And demolishing a perimeter fence worth N1.5m.

It was seen that the old students went into the community to mark houses for demolition and asked residents on the estate to vacate their homes and said the lands belongs to the school.

The association also dragged the residents to court, accusing them of erecting structures illegally on their land. The owner of the demolished house, Wale Soaga, insisted that members of the association demolished his building.

Shoaga, who claimed to have left the building late on Sunday evening, said the school’s alumni had been dragging the land with him since he started the construction.

He said, “I started the roofing last week Thursday. The carpenter finished on Sunday. When I got here on Monday morning, I saw massive destruction; they destroyed all the buildings. The whole house is worth over N30m, and everything has been destroyed.

“I suspect members of the Abeokuta Grammar School Old Students Association. I remember when I was constructing the house sometime last year December, one of them came with some thugs. He told me that all the houses in the estate would be destroyed, and they would collect the land from us. I have reported it to the police. I want them to be prosecuted.”

David Ogunsanya, the publicity secretary of the Estate, said most residents bought their land from a prominent Egba chief, Ade Oyalowo, and were given documents to back their purchase. He explained that the state bureau of lands had also intervened in the dispute, declaring that a portion of the land belonged to the school, while the other portion belonged to residents.

The President-General of AGSOBA Global, Sunday Oduntan, described the allegation as unfounded and untrue.

He said, “The land was bought by our forefathers. It was bought in plots, and we have all the receipts. In 1967, we did a survey of all the land, and we have the documents.

“Even though people of Graceland Estate are illegal occupants on our school land, they are not our enemies. We only wanted to claim what our forefathers bought for us.