Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State
Ogun State Government has warned Fibiwoga family and Obatop Properties to steer clear of government-acquired land located at Odogbolu Local Government Area of the State, reiterating that their claims and activities on the land portray them as land grabbers that must be curbed.
The Ogun State Government, in a statement by the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, in Abeokuta, handed down this warning following the latter’s reaction to the Thursday, April 3rd statement by the Ogun State Ministry of Justice which exposed their attempt to obtain government land by fraud, saying the state would not be manipulated into yielding an inch of government land to land grabbers.
He said that the Ogun State Government had not overruled the courts and could not do so, saying the State was already taking steps to set aside the judgment of the Customary Court which Fibiwoga Family obtained by suppressing relevant facts in the case.
The Attorney General while providing a background to the issue, said “The family brought us into this dispute when they wrote a petition alleging land grabbing against another family – Dada Osisi Family. It was at that meeting that we were first briefed on the issue.
“At the meeting of April 3rd 2025, we made it clear that we are not in position to decide ownership of the land and we are not doing so, but emphasised notifying the parties, even as the State Government had become a victim of the land grab perpetrated by Fibiwoga Family,” he said.
The Commissioner for Justice, recalled that the public was advised to be wary of dealing with Fibiwoga Family, Obatob Properties Limited and any other private person regarding the land, as it portrays that the government did not take side in the dispute, emphasising that, Ogun State Government respects the courts and does not overrule the courts. The judgment of the Customary Court was valid until set aside.
“The right that we currently assert is the same right that any person, including a private person, would assert if strangers show up on his land claiming that land and presenting a judgment in a suit he never knew of. The Ogun State Government is not overruling the court – it is simply refusing to be harassed out of the land it properly occupies, on account of a judgment that Fibiwoga obtained”, Ogungbade said.
He revealed that Fibiwoga continues to misstate facts, noting that the Customary Court of Appeal never affirmed the judgment of the Customary Court. Rather, the Customary Court of Appeal declined to hear the appeal filed by the Dada Osisi Family because the appeal was filed out of time, and it was expected considering that the people who appealed were never served with the suit or judgment, adding that, Ogun State was not a party to the appeal.
“Fibiwoga Family has presented a document from the Bureau of Lands and Survey which was used to buttress its position that some portions of the land in question are free of contrary interest. This, if true, begs the question – why did the Family then draw a survey plan to claim land beyond the free areas? Except with fraudulent intent, how can a family continue to present a survey plan claiming 350 acres of land even after knowing that about 100 acres belong to someone else?”, he said.
Ogungbade added that the document Fibiwoga Family presented shows that since September 2024, it had known that it encroached on Ogun State Government land, but it still wrote its petition to the government suppressing this fact and claiming the entire land.
The Commissioner added that a criminal charge was pending against Fibiwoga Family and the promoter of Obatob Properties Limited, Mr. Oluwatobi Obabi relating to the same land.
“The charge – MOD/59C/2024 IGP v. Tunde Aderibigbe, Oluwatobi Obabi, and Moshood Lawal – is pending before the Magistrates Court, Odogbolu and was filed by the Police, without involvement of the Ministry of Justice,”the AG revealed.
The Attorney-General hinted that he became aware of the charge when Fibiwoga presented the charge to him at the meeting of February 2025, with a request to him to intervene on their behalf. The charges pending against them were for conspiracy, forgery and assault causing grievous bodily harm, adding that since Fibiwoga Family is now all about judicial proceedings, it should announce its pending criminal trial too.
He added that the steps taken by the Ministry of Justice to combat land grabbing were designed to preserve the confidence of investors who gathered scarce resources in the challenging global economic climate to do business in Ogun State.
