BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE, IBADAN
There was confusion at Olooro Village in Ona Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State recently as no fewer than 50 hoodlums barred bailiffs from a High Court in the state and the Surveyor General from carrying out the orders of the court on the demarcation of a large expanse of land in the community.
Armed with dangerous weapons such as guns and cutlasses, the hoodlums vowed not to allow the representatives of the court and the Surveyor General to establish the survey pillars meant for the parcel of land as directed by the court.
Entreaties by Yemi Ajadi, a surveyor, and bailiffs of the court to allow them to carry out the instruction of the Surveyor General in line with the court judgment fell on deaf ears.
Ajadi said, “The community head in the area claimed that he was not informed ahead of their visit to the community. He said that if he was aware, he would have mobilized his people to be at the scene.”
In a petition sent to the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Peter Idowu, Counsel to King Nureni Akintola Lasisi, the National President of Soludero Hunters Association, said, “By a judgment of the Oyo State High Court in Suit No: 1/143/2015, our client was declared owner of a large parcel of land at Olooro Vilage, in Ona Ara Local Government.
“The judgment was executed by the bailiffs of the Oyo State High Court on April 24, 2022 and possession of the said land was delivered to our client.
“On July 27,2022, surveyors from the office of Surveyor General of Oyo State, bailiffs from Oyo State High Court, in the presence of police officers from Gbagi Police Station, Ibadan and our client were at Olooro Village, opposite Masopa Road, Ona Ara, to establish the survey pillars to demarcate the land given to our client by Oyo State High Court in the judgment in accordance with the directive of the High Court when the suspected hoodlums came with barrel guns, cutlasses, acid and other dangerous weapons and prevented the surveyors from performing their lawful duties as directed by the High Court of Oyo State.
“The behaviour and attitude of the suspects is capable of bringing the administration of justice to disrepute and it may lead to a situation of anarchy if it is not curtailed on time.”
The representative of the Surveyor General was accompanied by men of the Nigeria Police and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Despite the presence of security agents at the spot, the hoodlums threatened that they would cause civil disobedience if the security agents insisted on effecting the orders.
