Mr. Elijah Adeogun has accused the Attorney General of Ogun State, Hon Oluwasina Ogungbade of masterminding his arrest, and prosecution over a land matter that he and his client have won in a court of law.
Distraught Adeogun lamented that the petitions to the Ogun State Government were not given attention and that despite the fact that court judgements favoured him and his clients over the matter, he spent three months in the custody of the Department of State Security (DSS), which later handed him over to the Ogun State Police Command, which he said charged him to court for murder without any evidence.
Adeogun narrated how the issues surrounding the land, situated in Ota area of the state, started with one Mr. Mutairu Owoeye, who he said had taken the owners of the land to court.
According to him, after the owners of the land won the land case in a customary court, those who engaged the services of Owoeye took the matter to a high court, which he said his client won again and was given CERTIFICATE OF EXECUTION OF WARRANT OF POSSESSION by the court.
“Despite this, they started threatening us with Police and the then Federal SARS in Ikeja, Lagos intervened in the matter .
“The matter was later reported to the Ministry of Lands in writing and they came around with police, who also wrote reports.
“After that they took us to Abuja and the police authority ordered that they should stop disturbing us with thugs since we have court judgments, which they did not appeal and that they could not use police against court judgment.
“Despite this, they kept disturbing us with thugs and we wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police.
“The IG directed us to the Gender Unit Section in Area 10 in Abuja and the unit came to arrest their thugs that were in the site,” he said.
He alleged further that the police officers were attacked by thugs and that some policemen were shot in the process, adding that the matter was reported in the newspapers around year 2020 during the time of Coronavirus.
He said; “We later met with DIG Agbonikin, who said that they had no right over the land since we have all the necessary documents.
“Agbonikin directed that we should take possession of the land and that the shootings should be investigated.
“Yet, they did not allow us to enjoy the land. We later wrote petitions to the Attorney General of Ogun State on December 20, 2021, and another to the DSS office in Abeokuta. Nothing came out of these petitions.
“We then wrote the National Assembly, Abuja, which invited us and served both of us letters, but these people were just giving excuses and they failed to show up on the three occasions that we went there.
“We wrote a letter to the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly on February 10, 2022, but they did not act on it.
“We wrote another letter to state the Ministry of Justice, Oke Mosan on December 20, 2021, but they did not act on it despite all what have happened.
“Still, the thugs of Mutairu Owoeye kept disturbing me on the phone. They threatened to kill me and my wife; we have all these recorded in our phone.
“We went to report and played it for the IG, who directed us to the Ogun State Police Command in Eleweran with the recording with an instruction that they should report back to him. They served them letter, but they did not honour it.
“We then complained that it is as if we don’t have government in the country again.
“Both of us were invited to appear before the police on a particular day, but I was arrested by the men of the Department of State Security (DSS) two days to the appointment.
“They did not allow us to make the appointment on a Wednesday as the DSS came to arrest me on a Monday at 1:30 a.m.
“They cut our electric wires and broke my fence. We have video to back this up. I was arrested and they started questioning me on the land. I told them we have a court judgment on the matter and that the police had invited us for a meeting on it.
“They said that I was declared wanted by the police and I told them I still went to Abuja by air two days ago to see the police authority and that we had another appointment in two days. I said which paper carried the notice or where did they paste it that I was wanted.”
Adeogun alleged further that the DSS accused him that he was the one that killed one Monday Eredua, who they said died two years ago.
The DSS, he said, told him that the man died over land matters, and that he told them that he was less concerned about that, adding that they accused him of sending assassins to eliminate the man.
“They did not come with the accusation, when we went to see the IG and other police officers. I told them that I had written to the National Assembly and that I went there three times, yet they did not say that I was wanted.
“I told them that I wrote a petition to the IG and that he directed us to Eleweran, who did not tell me that I was wanted.
“In 2022, they are saying that I killed someone in 2020/2021 and I said where is the body of the deceased. For the three months that I spent there I did not see anybody.
“Nurudeen Obasanya and Mutairu Owoeye were invited by the DSS. Mutairu did not come, but Nurudeen Obasanya came with some workers of Mutairu.
“I salute the DSS over this because they brought them to me one by one. One person would say he saw me in the night, another would say he saw me in the afternoon that I wore red clothe and another would say I wore white. They later discovered that they told them lies.
“They told them in my presence that they have discovered what was happening and that I should not bother that they would not be biased in their reports on the matter.
“I said if that is so why couldn’t they release me and let me go. They said if they did, people would say I bribed them. They promised to do something, but I was in their custody for three months.”
He however, said that it got to him as a surprise, when they handed him over to the Ogun State Police Command Headquarters in Eleweran, which detained him in their cell, and that he wondered why he was detained when no one came to antagonise him, adding that he asked them if they did not do their investigations properly.
“The police later charged me to court for murder. The Ogun State Police did not do any investigation and the DSS that did investigations for three months said that I was innocent.
“So, who is accusing me of murder, but I was told that the state governor was interested in the matter. I said did I sell Government land or am I a politician.
“The Attorney General of the state, Oluwasina Ogungbade SAN is in-charge of the case. He said that the Governor was interested and I said I would like to meet the Governor on the matter.
“I asked if I am a politician or if I did anything against the government. I did not see anybody to challenge me. I was later charged to court and granted bail.
“But I gathered that the attorney general wrote to the court that I must not be granted bail. I began to wonder if it was the Attorney General of the state that I offended or the Governor or those that are fighting me over land.
“It was obvious that Owoeye wrote a petition against me to the DSS. What I don’t know is the interest of the Governor or the Attorney General of the state on the matter. I have copies of the letter that we wrote. They did not attend to our petition apart from the National Assembly that invited us.
“Maybe it is because we don’t have money. After a court had decided on the matter, we have police reports and that of the state department of lands, which documents do they want again.
“Mutairu Owoeye once told me that he discovered that I was the one backing the owners of the land and that if he heard that I was involved again I would rot in prison.
“I have the recording, which I played to the DSS, they heard it and yet they are biased over the matter. It is the Attorney General and the DSS that are on the matter.
“The police never did any investigation or bring anybody to accuse me of wrongdoing. I told my lawyer to ask them what I did. They said it was an order from the Governor and I wonder what happened.
“They said the matter should be taken away from the court that granted me bail. I was accused of murder by the court, yet, I did not see the family of the person they said I killed. The DSS has taken over our land. We don’t even know what is going on now,” he said.
