Ogun State residents decry property demolitions on Sango land despite active court injunction and ownership dispute

Residents in Sango-Ota accuse Ogun State officials of demolishing homes despite a court injunction. Read about the Gbagura family's land dispute and flood claims.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 17, 2026, 6:17 AM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Independent Newspapers

Forced Evictions Spark Outcry Over Alleged Judicial Disregard

A volatile land dispute in the Sango-Ota region of Ogun State reached a breaking point on March 12, 2026, when bulldozers protected by security operatives razed multiple structures. Engineer Ajayi Olayinka, a representative of the Gbagura family, reported that the operation focused on a parcel of land currently under litigation. According to Olayinka, the intervention occurred in direct defiance of a subsisting court injunction intended to maintain the status quo. The demolition team allegedly destroyed five houses before local police from the Sango-Ota Area Command were called to the scene to temporarily halt the proceedings. The family maintains that the land is private property, supported by documentation from 1976, and was never legally ceded to the state.

Casualties of Clearance and the Destruction of Private Estates

The physical impact of the demolition has left several families displaced and grieving the loss of decades of investment. Mr. Akeredolu Babatola, a property owner in the area, detailed the destruction of his two-story structure which housed several tenants and his elderly father. Babatola claimed the building had stood for over 20 years before it was targeted by state linked workers. Beyond the residential units, the community alleged that family graves were desecrated during the clearing process. The victims argue that the state’s approach prioritizes total clearance over the legal rights of established residents who have occupied the Lagos–Abeokuta Expressway corridor for generations.

Local Government Distances Itself from Direct Demolition Claims

In response to the mounting allegations, Hon. Wasiu Lawal, Chairman of the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, denied that his office orchestrated the destruction of the buildings. Lawal characterized the activity not as a demolition, but as an environmental assessment and sanitation exercise conducted by the Ogun State Ministry of Environment. According to the Chairman, the primary objective was to address chronic flooding, roadside trading hazards, and traffic bottlenecks that plague the Sango-Ota intersection. He asserted that the ministry’s workers were merely clearing refuse and overgrown vegetation to prepare for a channelization project necessitated by the upcoming rainy season.