Ashamu Family Alarms Sanwo-Olu, Public Over Alleged Illegal Reallocation of Late Businessman's Agidingbi Property

Ikeja, Lagos – The family of the late Lagos State business magnate, Chief Emmanuel Oyedele Ashamu, has raised an alarm, alerting Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu and the general public to the alleged illegal and unlawful reallocation of their late patriarch's landed property in the Agidingbi area of Lagos by the Lagos State Land Bureau. 

The family has warned the public and stated that the administrators of the estate will "resist any unlawful interference" with their late father's property.

In a public notice, the Ashamu Oyedele Family asserted their ownership of the land, citing several Deeds of Conveyance dating back to 1962 and registered in the Land Registry, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. They cautioned the public against dealing with "unscrupulous elements" falsely claiming ownership and offering the land for sale.

The family emphasized that the administrators of the estate will resist any unlawful encroachment on their proprietary rights and will ensure that trespassers are prosecuted according to the law.

According to the family, their late father's ownership is supported by Certified True Copies of various Deeds of Conveyance registered between 1962 and 1969 at the Lands Registry in Ibadan and Lagos.

The family recounted that in 1963, the Government of the Western Region compulsorily acquired 601.2 acres of the land, whose title was vested in Chief Emmanuel Oyedele Ashamu, ostensibly for public purposes. They stated that the law mandates prompt payment of compensation for such acquisitions, which they claim was not done.

Following the creation of Lagos State in 1967, the land was transferred to the Lagos State Government, which, in 1969, again acquired the same land via Lagos State Notice No 236, allegedly without compensating Chief Ashamu.

The family contends that the failure to pay compensation invalidates the compulsory acquisition, making Chief Ashamu the deemed holder of the Statutory Right of Occupancy at the time of his death in 1992, a right that devolved upon his family.

The family expressed shock that the Lands Bureau, under the Governor's office, by a letter dated April 8th, 2025, allocated a portion of their land along Lateef Jakande Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, measuring 4177.936 square metres, to the Akinole Oshiun Family.

They declared this allocation as wrongful, unlawful, invalid, and unjustifiable, asserting their subsisting Statutory Right of Occupancy over the land.