Kelebe-Omu Landowners Speak On Court Contempt, Warn Osun Residents Against Land Buying

The Kelebe-Omu Landowners Association has accused the Nigerian Army of disobeying court judgement on the Keleke-Omu land in Osogbo and Olorunda Local Government Areas of Osun State.

The association comprising people from 45 families in Osogbo and Olorunda Local Government Areas of Osun State alleged that the disobedience of the army to judgment of court and the rule of law which is threatening the peace of the public, especially Osogbo, the Osun State Capital, “hence, the need for intervention of the higher authority is urgently required”.

The landowners association said this at a press briefing addressed by Chief Amodu Akanbi led-executive in Osogbo on Tuesday.

The association said, “As we speak, the Post-Service Housing Development Limited incorporated by the Nigerian Army to manage the said land is selling it plot-by-plot with the sum of N7.5 million for 500sqm and N15 million for 1000sqm to private individuals upon purchase of a Post-Service Housing Scheme Military Application Form for N10,000 from its Osogbo office.

“It would be recalled that Kelebe-Omu Landowners in the suit Number HOS/40/2020, filed by Chief Amodu Akanbi, Sulaiman Folorunsho, Alhaji Ibraheem Olaboye, Alfa Rasaki Tiamiyu, and Yekini Salawu, through our lead counsel, U.F Mohammad, against the Attorney General of the Federation, Minister of Defence, Post-Service Housing Development Limited, The Nigeria Army and The Chief of Army Staff, prayed that the acquisition of our land by the defendants was unconstitutional and illegal.

“However, the Osun State High Court sitting in Ile-Ife presided over by Justice A.O Ayoola on January 10th, 2023 delivered judgement, instructing the defendants to vacate the 3,646 acres of land belonging to Kelebe-Omu landowners, and ordered them to pay a sum of N200 million to us for the destruction of our land.

“After the court had given its ruling, we obtained a warrant for possession of the land on 25 of April 2023 after the defendants had failed to make use of the opportunity of appealing the judgment within the stipulated period under the law as no notice of appeal from any court of competent jurisdiction was served.

“In compliance with the court judgment, we visited the our land to executive the Court judgment, but some military personnel led by one Alayande forcefully dragged, harassed, beaten us, destroy our vehicles and took about thirty of us to Ede barack, threatening to kill if we dare come on the land again. It took the intervention of our father, the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun before we could be released.

“After the January 10th, 2023 judgment of the High Court, the Nigerian Army continued to take actions on the land by allocating part of it to individuals for personal use, while some military personnel still went ahead to erect pillars to demarcate part of the land.

“The company, in the name of Nigerian Army, has been issuing permits at agreed prices to members of the public for sand/gravel digging and haulage; construction of fish ponds; farming camps; hewing and haulage of firewood; palm oil prospecting; collection of levies ‘Isakole’ (tributes) like oil, palm-wine, yams and kolanuts; felling of trees and sawmilling them into timber logs and planks; destruction of kolanut and palm trees within the said land.

“As we speak, if any of you sitting here want to buy land from the Nigerian Army for your private or commercial use, it would be sold to you illegally by the agent of the Nigerian Army.”

The Kelebe-Omu Landowners Association, therefore, urged the public that “all steps and transactions taken by the Nigerian Army on the Kelebe-Omu land after the January 10 Court judgment are illegal.”

The association also warned against buying “land belonging to us from anybody again illegally”.

“We also recommend that the government should henceforth mandate a greater punishment against any individual, group of people, private or government agencies who embark on contempt of Court against the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended,” it added.