Ogun arraigns monarch for land grabbing, assault

Court

The Ogun State Government has arraigned the Olu of Obafemi, Oba Taofeek Owolabi before Justice Sunday Adeniyi of the state High Court, Abeokuta for land grabbing.

Oba Owolabi, a member of the Egba Traditional Council, is currently on suspension over the same allegation.

In a statement on Wednesday by the Ministry of Justice, the royal father was said to have been arraigned on Tuesday “for conspiracy to sell property without authority, sale of property without authority, unlawful use of agents, forceful takeover of land, assault of a police officer, and obtaining by false pretence.”

According to the statement, which affirmed the monarch’s presumption of innocence, Oba Owolabi was accused of laying an unlawful claim to 500 acres of land within Obafemi Owode town and deceiving a developer, one Dr Michael Adeyemi, into paying him N75m for the land.

The government alleged that Owolabi never remitted the sum to the landholding families and also placed thugs on the land who macheted one individual, while he attacked an officer from the state task force against land grabbing.

The statement added that the government took several steps to call Oba Owolabi to order, saying that he ignored a July 2024 summons by the State House of Assembly, choosing instead to file two suits in court, which the Ministry of Justice defended.The statement continued: “Oba Owolabi withdrew those cases subsequently but never submitted to the House’s investigations. The House Committee would eventually recommend that Oba Owolabi should be prosecuted for land grabbing.

“Under the leadership of the paramount ruler of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland, the Egba Traditional Council summoned Oba Owolabi several times, but Oba Owolabi defied those invitations.

“The Ethical Committee of the Egba Traditional Council also engaged Oba Owolabi to no avail. Thus, on 13 December 2024, the Egba Traditional Council suspended Oba Owolabi from his office as Olu Obafemi for conducting himself in a manner entirely unexpected of a traditional ruler. That suspension is still in effect.”