IG Arraigns Ministry Director, Others  over Land Grab in Lagos

Wale Igbintade

The Inspector-General of Police (IG) has arraigned Julius Eshiet, Al-Trade Agencies Limited, and Alabi Collins, a director in the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, before Justice Akinwunmi Idowu of the Lagos State High Court over alleged forgery, illegal occupation, and forceful takeover of land in Ikeja GRA.

The defendants face a 13-count charge relating to the disputed property measuring 9,425 square yards at Block C, Plots 30 and 37, also known as No. 6 (formerly No. 37A) Ajisafe Street, GRA, Ikeja.

According to court filings dated September 1, 2025, prosecuting counsel, Rotshang Dimka of the Police Force headquarters, Abuja, said the case arose from a July 1, 2024, petition by Viagem Property and Investment Limited.

Viagem accused the defendants and one Yemi Kazeem Balogun of land grabbing, malicious damage, and forging land documents.

The company said the property had changed hands lawfully over decades, leased in 1961 by the defunct Western Region Government to Nigerian Enamelware Company, assigned in 1993 to Western Metal Products Company Limited (WEMPCO), and sold to Viagem in 2019 with uninterrupted possession until 2021.

The petition alleged that in 2021, the defendants, accompanied by armed thugs and individuals claiming to be police officers, forcibly evicted Viagem’s officials, violating the Lagos State Properties Protection Law, 2016.

Lagos State Task Force operatives later marked the property as “under investigation,” but the signpost was allegedly destroyed by the defendants’ agents.

During the investigation, Collins claimed that the land was federal property, citing a 1946 Gazette and a 2021 allocation to Al-Trade Agencies.

He also presented a 2003 application form, a 2003 lease offer, and a Certificate of Occupancy purportedly signed by former Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.

Police investigators, however, reported finding records showing that WEMPCO and later Viagem consistently paid land use charges to the Lagos State Government and that no evidence of federal ownership existed before 2021.

Justice Idowu adjourned the matter to September 12, 2025, for further hearing.

Eshiet was, however, remanded at the Lagos State Police Command, while Collins’s counsel sought adjournment on medical grounds.