Land grabbing was a common crime in Lagos and Ogun States until recently when the leadership of these states decided that enough was enough by enacting anti-land grabbing laws that prescribed severe punishment for anyone found guilty of any crime under these laws.
Osun State had always been peaceful across almost all indices of social security until recently when crimes like land grabbing, selling of the same landed property to multiple people, extortion of money from prospective owners at construction sites, etc started becoming hydra headed octopus in Osun, especially in major cities like Osogbo, Ede, etc. These disheartening criminal developments were attributed to influx of thugs into Osun State from Lagos and Ogun States after discovering that the latter states were becoming too hot for their criminal activities.
It got so bad that citizens of Osun State were no longer enjoying the age-long serenity that Osun was known for.
In 2017, citizens of Osogbo concluded that they had enough and that they needed to take pro-active steps towards curbing the excesses of the thugs that were making Osun State a living hell for the peace-loving citizens of Osun State. Under the umbrella of the Osogbo Affairs Forum (OSAF), citizens of Osogbo set up OSAF Security Committee comprising Barrister Ayotunde Faniyi, Esq; Dr. Omoniyi Yakubu Adebisi; Barrister Bamidele Ajibade, Esq; Mr. Rasheed Bolarinwa; Dr. Wahab Olalekan Adebisi; Hon. Isiaka Faramade; Prince Hameed Oyegbade; Dr. Tajudeen Adetunji; Alhaji Yekinni Opawoye; Barrister Fatai Sulemna, Esq; Architect Goke Omigbodun and Barrister M. D. Adeoye, Esq. This resourceful OSAF Security Committee arduously drafted and submitted a Proposed Anti-Land Grabbing Bill to the 6th Osun State House of Assembly via its Deputy Speaker, Honorable Adegboye Akintunde. It was learnt from a reliable source that the bill was passed by the 6th Assembly before it rounded up its activities, but the bill was, unfortunately, not signed into law by the former Governor Rauf Aregbesola before he left office as the governor.
Nothing was heard about this extremely important bill again until Friday, July 22, 2022 when I and Hon Akintunde met along Alekuwodo Road in Osogbo. As we were discussing about the prevailing security challenges in Osogbo among other things, I asked about the bill we submitted in 2017. Surprisingly, he declared that the bill had been signed into law. He advised me how I could get a copy of the law. I was extremely excited. Truly, I soon confirmed that the bill was graciously signed into law by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in 2019.
This citizens’ sponsored bill, which was successfully enacted as law, exemplifies how citizens can actively participate in governance without necessarily being in the cabinet or part of such government.
The law addresses every aspect of land grabbing and extortion activities by hoodlums who often claim to be “omoonile”. The law was captioned “State of Osun Forceful Entry and Illegal Occupation of Landed Properties (Prohibition) Law, 2019”. The law prescribes various types of jail terms and or stiff penalties or both for violators of any of the provisions of this law. You may download a soft copy of this law by clicking on Osun State Anti-Land Grabbing Law.
Section 2 of the law prohibits forceful land take-over and or entry by violence onto any landed property in the State of Osun with penalty of 20 years of imprisonment without option of fine for anyone or group of people that violates any portion of this Section 2. Similar penalty awaits anyone or group of people that remains in occupation of such property 3 months after the enactment of this law if such property was forcefully taken over before this law was enacted.
Section 3 broadens the grounds that this law covers by extending the jurisdiction to any reason that might be an excuse for committing such crime.
Section 4 prohibits use, either personally or by proxy, of firearms, dangerous weapons, chemical material or any material that can cause physical or psychological trauma either directly or indirectly to the legal owner of such property and or causse violence and or wound anyone in the process. This Section prescribes mandatory 30 years of imprisonment without option of fine for violator of any of this Section.
Section 4 (c) further clarifies that in case a life is lost in the process of such criminal take over or occupation of such landed property, the violator is liable to life imprisonment or death penalty without option of fine.
Section 5 prohibits encroachment on landed property and or failure to seize such encroachment after being asked to do so by the lawful owner of such encroached property with penalty upon conviction of minimum of two million naira or five (5) years imprisonment or both.
Section 6 prohibits land agent or use of land agent in taking over landed property with penalty of minimum of one million naira or one year of imprisonment or both against anyone that uses land agent for such purpose and against the land agent who allows himself or herself to be so used in addition to all other penalties prescribed in this law pertaining to such criminal take-over or occupation.
Section 7 prohibits use of law enforcement agent in contrary to the provisions of Sheriff and Civil Process Act for the purpose of executing judgment of a Court regarding land matters. Any law enforcement agent guilty of violating this provision is liable to a minimum of one million naira fine or minimum of one year of imprisonment or combination of the two in addition to being reported his or her employer for additional sanction.
Section 8 prohibits encroachment of any landed property with firearm or dangerous weapon and prescribes 30 years of imprisonment without option of fine upon conviction of such violator.
Section 9 (1) prohibits selling or offer for sale any landed property without the consent of the rightful owner of such property and or reselling to someone else of a property that has already being purchased by someone else by the same person or group of people that originally owned such land. This Section prescribes a fine of minimum of five hundred thousand naira (N500,000) or five hundred percent (500%) of the current market value of the landed property in question, whichever one is higher, or between Six (6) and Fifteen (15) years of imprisonment or both against the violator or group of violators upon conviction.
Sections 9 (2) to (4) prohibit selling a family land without the involvement and or consent of the Family Head and other principal members of the Family or sell of government land without the consent of the State or selling of already sold land to someone else without such sale being repudiated first by a Competent Court of jurisdiction. Anyone or group convicted of these provisions is liable to two years of imprisonment per offence.
Section 10 prohibits any Professional, especially lawyer, from facilitating agreement or activity that he or she knows that contravenes any of the provisions of this law or any other existing law. The law prescribes four years of imprisonment or fine of 500% of the market value of the property in question or both against any Professional that violates this provision upon conviction.
Section 11 empowers any citizen or group of citizens to report any witnessed activity that contravenes any of the provisions of this law to the Law Enforcement Agent and Victim Defence Council and that such complaint must be acted upon within 24 hours by the Law Enforcement Agent that receives such report. The import of this provision is that it is now illegal for a Law Enforcement Agent like police to fail to act on any complaint that has to do with this law in timely manner. Citizens can now sue Law Enforcement Agent for failing to act on such complaint in timely manner if such complaint is not acted upon within 24 hours after being received.
This Section 11 also prohibits submission of frivolous or false petition. A drawback of this Section 11 however is the lack of any prescribed penalty for violator of the provision of this Section 11. This may require attention of the legislators for proper amendment in the near future.
Section 12 prohibits the illegalities popularly known as “omoonile syndrome”. In recent years, thugs regularly bombard construction sites, especially in major metropolis in the State of Osun, demanding for outrageous amounts of money from the construction workers and or the owners of the properties being constructed. If any or all of these citizens being so victimized resist such illegal extortion or fail to comply as demanded by these thugs, tastes of hell are visited by these thugs against these victims in different forms. Citizens’ accounts have it that properties worth millions to billions of naira have been lost in recent years to these illegalities in addition to many law-abiding citizens that were maimed in the process of such extortion. This Section 12 now prescribes one million naira or 500% of the value of damages attributable to such illegality, whichever one is higher, or ten (10) years of imprisonment or both against violator or violators of this Section 12.
Finally, Section 13 establishes Task Force Unit and Victim Defence Council while Sections 14 through 16 set arrest responsibilities and define jurisdiction and interpretations of terminologies in this law.
This law is truly a big victory for law-abiding citizens and residents of the State of Osun.
Congratulations to the OSAF and members of the OSAF Security Committee who took this historic initiative; all law-abiding citizens of Osogbo starting from our imperial father, HRM Oba Jimoh Olanipekun Oyetunji, the Ataoja of Osogbo, who have been victimized variously, directly or indirectly, by these criminals; all peace-loving citizens of cities where criminals reign havoc as land grabbers and all peace-loving citizens of the State of Osun on having this extremely important legal weapon to curbing the destructive activities of criminals in our midst.
It is equally imperative to commend the members of the 6th State House of Assembly who made history by passing this historic bill, and his Excellency, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, who decided to write his name in gold in the annal of history of the State of Osun as the executive governor that took decisive action against criminalities in the Land of Virtue.
One big challenge however is implementation of this law. First and foremost, findings revealed that majority of citizens of Osun State, including legal practitioners, are not aware of the existence of this extremely important law despite the fact that it has been in existence since 2019. Secondly, many citizens complain that law enforcement agents demand a lot of money from them whenever they seek for protection or justice against land grabbers or hoodlums that attempt to extort money or extort from them. These challenges are supposed to be addressed by the Task Force Unit and the Victim Defence Council enshrined in this new signed law. Unfortunately however, there is currently no evidence that either the Task Force Unit or the Victim Defence Council established by this law, which are required to add flesh to this extremely important law, is currently functioning or in existence in Osun State.
This is where good citizens of Osun State need to step in. The Victim Defence Council appears to be a team that can be setup by each community, especially through the initiatives from the palace of such community.
Osogbo, being the state capital of Osun State and apparently the most affected city where most of the criminals that may violate this law reside, should be the pacesetter in ensuring that this law becomes effective. The palace of our imperial father, the community associations like the Osogbo Progressive Union (OPU) and stakeholders in Osogbo and similar entities in other cities need to answer this clarion call by working together in setting up Victim Defence Council in cities across the state. In addition to this, there is an urgent need to liaise with the local and state governments and law enforcement agents like Amotekun, Department of State Services (DSS), police, military and other law enforcement agencies to strategize how to put in place law enforcement teams that will respond to the victims of crimes prohibited by this law while awaiting the establishment of the substantive Task Force Unit as prescribed by this law.
It is a general belief that the efforts from the community are critically important at this point in order to ensure that this law achieves its objectives of reducing or exterminating criminal activities prohibited by this law. Effectiveness of this law will surely reinstate the serenity that the State of Osun was known for before these criminals invaded our peaceful communities.
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