Lagos State government has received one thousand petitions relating to forceful takeover of landed properties in the state.

According to the government, they were recieved through the Special Task Force Against Land Grabbers, disclosing that three hundred and fifty out of the petitions were resolved in the last one year.

Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo, made the disclosure at the ministerial press briefing held at JJT Park, Alausa, Ikeja to commemorate Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s first anniversary.

Onigbanjo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria said deliberate efforts were made by government to strengthen the task force to arrest and prosecute land grabbers to send a signal about determination of the present administration to rid the state of illegal dispossession of landowners.

While giving details of activities of the ministry and its agencies in the last one year, Onigbanjo, said that about 20 petitions were currently being prosecuted in court, adding that 20 properties under dispute were marked with inscriptions by the office to prevent any further transactions until pending issues were resolved.

“The task force with five counsel received 1000 petitions out of which 350 have so far been resolved, while over 600 are pending and are at various stages of resolution.

“About 20 petitions are currently being prosecuted in court. 20 properties under dispute were marked with inscriptions by the office to prevent any further transactions until pending issues are resolved. The arrest and prosecution of several suspected land grabbers were also effected in conjunction with security personnel attached to the Governor’s Monitoring Team,” the commissioner said.

According to the commissioner, some of the cases handled by the task force include the Ejigbo landgrabbing case which had gone viral and popularly known as the Adeoye’s case in which warrant of arrest was issued against the three alleged land grabbers; arrest and prosecution of landgrabber at Ogudu GRA residential Scheme II; and recovery of land from land grabbers at Ojota, among others.

He said as part of the mandate of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT), the team in the period under review held series of activities to galvanise strategic action and respond appropriately to formal and informal reporting of incidents of rape, defilement, domestic violence, child abuse, neglect and maltreatment.