By Mary BASSEY, Senior Investigator Correspondent Lagos/
LAGOS– THE Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, FCIID Abuja is investigating the Chairman of the Lagos Taskforce, CSP Shola Jejeloye over his alleged involvement in a large expanse of land situated in Eyi-Osa, Ebeju Lekki area of Lagos State. Sources said the Taskforce boss was summoned to appear before a panel of investigation headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Administration and other officers including the Force PRO ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi following a petition to the then Deputy Inspector-General of Police DIG FCIID, Johnson Babatunde Kokumo over his alleged biased stand on the land being contested by two real estate moguls, Rasheed Mosadoluwa Abdulahi aka ‘Ibile’ owner of Harmony Gardens and Estate Development Limited and Muphy Adebare of Toppers Gardens. It was learnt that at the Panel, CSP Jejeloye had initially said that he and his officers and men including SP Salako stormed the troubled land on the instruction of the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu but back tracked after ‘Ibile’ reportedly presented documents including the state government’s consent on the land adding that he then said he was actually misled by the owner of Toppers Gardens into entering the land.. He was therefore said to have been mandated to write an undertaking that he and Toppers would no longer venture into the land.
However, CrimeWorld magazine online learnt that immediately DIG Johnson Babatunde Kokumo retired from the Force early this year, CSP Shola Jejeloye and his officers and men was back on track, went back to the same land, destroyed the perimeter fencing and allegedly looted equipments worth several millions. Thereafter, the Taskforce chairman through his spokesperson Gbadeyan Abdulazeez on October 11, 2023 came out with a press release that it had arrested a notorious land grabber, kidnapper and terrorist in the person of Saheed Mosadoluwa Abdulahi aka Ibile. But crying out that he was far from being the names Takforce had called him, ‘Ibile said his encounter with the Police was at the instance of a call from CSP Jejeloye that the Commissioner of Police Idowu Owohunwa wanted to see him over the land in contention. He said he had objected to honouring the invitation on the ground that the matter was already before the FCIID Abuja but on the insistence of his lawyer, David Sanni Olayinka who maintained that they should honour the invitation. Addressing newsmen in Lagos on October 17, 2023, Saheed Abdulahi maintained that he was never arrested by the Police saying that it was the Commissioner of Police, CP Idowu Owohunwa who invited him to shed more light on a land matter which had been with the FCIID Abuja since last year. He said it was after the meeting that the CP, who after seeing that he had a genuine case, told his contender, Toppers, to negotiate with him because he had all documents relating to the land in question.
It was also the CP who asked him to follow CSP Shola Jejeloye to his office to put all that I had told him down in writing. According to him, he drove to the Bolade Head office of the Taskforce in his car, gave his statement but was about leaving when he was informed that the Chairman CSP Shola Jejeloye had given an order that he should be detained so that they can visit the site at about 4.00am the next day for further investigation. He said he was shocked and called his lawyer one, Sanni David Olayinka who raced to the office and met with Jejeloye who insisted that he was being held for further investigation only for them to quickly arraign him at a Magistrate Court in Ogba the next day At the Court, the Magistrate having gone through the documents ordered that it be sent to the DPP for advice adding that rather than obey the court, he was again re-arraigned in a Mobile Court within the premises of the Taskforce on trump up charges of terrorism, kidnapping and land grabbing the same day. The Magistrate of the Mobile Court reportedly informed that he could not entertain a matter that had been advised to be taken to the DPP by his superior and promptly granted him bail. But because nobody was around to perfect his bail bond, he was sent to Badagry Correctional Center.
The next day, his lawyer came to perfect his bail conditions and was released. He maintained that it was that same day of his arraignment that the Police came out with a release claiming that it had arrested a notorious land grabber, kidnapper and terrorist in his person.
Describing CSP Shola Jejeloye as land grabber in Police uniform, Saheed said, “Initially, he was telling us that the Governor of Lagos State roped him to give one Muphy Adebare who is a renowned land grabber of Toppers Gardens, to hijack our property at Eyin-Osa. This is a property we invested close to N7.2 billion, this fund we are talking about is actually not our money; it is Nigerians’ money both home and abroad, where people invested in one plot, two plots, three plots as their power could carry in our care. We found out from the state government because the land we are talking about is not government acquisition land, it is government resettlement land in which those who government bestowed the land to, sold to us and we have actually perfected government Consent on them. We didn’t have any issue with anybody not until Muphy Adebare of Toppers Gardens invaded out property at Eyin-Osa with men of the Lagos State Taskforce, they demolished our fences, took possession without any warrant of possession or court order that made us to do a petition to then CP Abiodun Alabi now DIG. In fairness, the DIG was not biased at the time but because CSP Jejeloye who is a land grabber in a Police uniform has a way of convincing and confusing his superior Police officers, was able to manipulate the CP then (now DIG). We went to Abuja and petitioned the IGP, Alkali Usman Baba and CSP Jejeloye was invited and he went to the Force Headquarters Abuja to tell them that he went to take possession of the land on the orders of the state government. But when the then DIG Babatunde Kokumo( retd) having gone through my documents and discovered that they were all genuine, the retired DIG Kokumo asked the DC Admin and I think the FPRO was among the panel to investigate Jejeloye himself at that point and CSP Jejeloye wrote statement that he was mislead by Muffy Adebare and they asked him to write an undertaking and remove his boys including one SP Salako from the property forthwith. When they came to take forceful possession that time, they looted our property, some of the equipment on site were looted and the fences destroyed. But the DIG pleaded that we should over look all those things and that since it is clear that the land belongs to us, we should go and rebuild it and buy whatever may have been stolen. We were calm and went back to the land and started working again.”
Continuing, Saheed added, “To our surprise, immediately DIG Kokumo retired from the Force, CSP Jejeloye returned to the site with the same tactics without knowing that the Attorney General of the State had called for the file from the Police and AG office had charged Muphy Adebare aka Toppers to the state High Court as we talk, he is on the run because he doesn’t want to attend the court proceedings. It is only his lawyer that has been going to the Court for the past one They came back to my land and continued their looting of our equipment and destroyed properties. CSP Shola Jejeloye called me on the 10th October that the CP Idowu Owohunwa wanted to see me and I went there. We made the CP realized that the matter was already at the Force Headquarters and that there was already a report from the state government and even the Police on the matter but he insisted on hearing it claiming that he is in charge of the state and that some people told him that I am close to retired DIG Kokumo. “We tendered our documents including evidences of payment and he went through all of them and in fairness, before everybody, CP Idowu Owohunwa pointed at Toppers and said look, you don’t have property in that land, if you want to buy land go and meet Saheed to sell land for you, this to me was genuine enough and that made me relax. He asked Toppers to go and negotiate with me. Toppers came and said he needs 100 acres of land and I said do you want to buy or what, and he said no, that I should give it to him for free so that I can have peace of mind on that land because he would have to give some to the police, give some to this and that. I told him that was impossible, give 100 acres of people’s land, people’s investments; what will I tell them happened to their land? While this was on and waiting for CP’s final directive on this matter, Toppers went and engaged a renowned assassin known as Esin-Olobo, a popular assassin in Lagos, I can cite two or three cases whereby he was paraded by the Police with guns, one of the cases is that of Kunle Poly where Olowunwa was involved then. Esin-Olobo was among the four suspects paraded then.
He had called me while I was in Saudi Arabia that he had been paid N12m to assassinate me but that if I can pay him N100m, he will drop the bid, and I told him to go ahead to kill me because I do not have such an amount of money; I also thought he wanted to extort me. I have evidence of that conversation recorded. When I came back from Saudi, I was at the back of my other estate. I heard shootings from the other estate and I quickly went to put up a petition to the Force CID to that effect because I already had Esin-Olobo as a suspect. It was Policemen from the FCID Abuja who tracked Esin-Olobo to where he wanted to come and assassinate me; he actually shot at me but with the help of the Almighty God, I survived his bullets.
He was overpowered in that bush and brought down. Before I will bring him out, the community, estate security and other MOPOL had held his boys, six of them down, beat and stripped them naked. So I now said he is the main assassin. why is he wearing his clothes, that is how they tore his clothes. It is that video of his clothes being torn which was edited that it is in circulation. Esin Olobo mentioned the account, I think Sterling bank where the money to assassinate me was paid in tranches by Toppers.
We handed them over to the Police who took them to Abuja because they were wanted. The Police even went as far as obtaining the statement of that bank account and discovered that it is this same ‘Toppers’ who paid in the money to assassinate me. Nobody is talking about all these, but it is that video where he was naked which was edited and is in circulation that people are holding against me.”
Frantic efforts to get the reaction of the Taskforce chairman on his 08081774609 mobile line was not successful as the line rang out. He has yet to also respond to a text message sent to it as of the time of this report. But his public relations officer Gbadeyan Abdulazeez said he was not aware that his boss was under any probe over land matters and added that all he knew was that he was an agent of the state government and has never been accused of land grabbing. He said whoever feels that his boss was into land grabbing should seek redress in the court. “Honestly, I am not aware of any land grabbing probe that my boss is under but I can tell you that whatever he does is at the instance of the state government. If anybody is accusing him of land grabbing, as far as I am concerned, going to court is the most civilized way of settling any dispute on land grabbing’ but I know my boss is working on behalf of the state and has never been accused of land grabbing,” he added.