The Ogun State House of Assembly has passed a resolution recommending the suspension and prosecution of Oba Taofeek Kayode Owolabi, the Olu of Obafemi, in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area.
This decision was made following allegations of land grabbing and perpetrating acts capable of disrupting the peace of the residents of Agboro-Olatunde village and the state at large.
The resolution was passed after the presentation of a report by the House Committees on Justice, Ethics, and Public Petitions, led by Vice-Chairman Hon. Tella Babatunde.
The report was based on petitions received from the Agboro Olatunde Community Development Association against the monarch.
The Assembly directed the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and the State Council of Obas to immediately suspend the monarch. Additionally, the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), was called upon to prosecute the Olu of Obafemi according to the provisions of the State Anti-Land Grabbing Law, 2016, and other relevant laws.
The resolution was adopted through a unanimous voice vote, with the Majority Leader, Yusuf Sheriff, moving the motion and the Minority Leader, Lukman Adeleye, seconding it.
The report partly reads: “in view of the allegations raised by the petitioners and the failure of the respondent to honour the invitation of the House on the issues raised by the petitioners, the Committee embarked on the spot assessment of the land under contention and observed as follows: that there is a land dispute between the residents of Agboro-Olatunde Village and Oba Taofeek Kayode Owolabi (The Olu of Obafemi); the land under contention is located at Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State; the Monarch who was alleged of land grabbing brought in a developer to Agboro-Olatunde Village, where over 30 hectares of land belonging to the residents of the village was cleared and cash crops amounting to millions of naira were destroyed by the respondent.
The Monarch did not have either registered or non-registered title documents on the disputed land; and the action of the Monarch is contrary to the Anti-Land Grabbing Law, 2016 of Ogun State”, the report read.
