Crusaderhotnews
By Gidigba Group
During the last few days, we have had cause to entertain oral petitions from victims of alleged land-grabbing and associated illegal land deals across communities in Benin City, the Edo State capital—we had thought the menace of land-grabbing, encroachment and illegal demolition had become history, particularly following our anti-land grabbing protestations of 2021, which saw to the then EDHA Speaker, Rt Hon. Marcus Onobun, joining in solidarity with victims.
The swift response of the former governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki—his lands and property regulatory policy, couple with our continued advocacy against the menace, calmed a whole lot of frayed nerves, as many victims got back their grabbed properties—we also got communities to fully compensate property developers whose properties had been unlawfully demolished.
Land-grabbing is draconian—beyond giving the State a bad reputation, it scares off potential investors who fear for the safety of their investments—leading to low revenue and increased underdevelopment for the State.
Calls to some of the persons whose names flashed in the oral petitions suggests they may be innocent, that unscrupulous elements may be using their names and reputation to harass and extort property developers in their communities—it is not enough however, for these persons to stay silent when cases of land-grabbing, extortion and underhand land deals are brought before them—we will advise that these persons who command respect in their respective communities take immediate action, so the matter does not snowball into another Citywide crusade like 2021.
Beyond that and most importantly, the Edo State government must immediately develop sustainable policies to regulate lands and properties aimed at boosting investor confidence and guarantee property developers safety of their properties—to at least take Edo off that radar of bastion for lands and property crime.
For those who have reached out to us, do not despair, we will continue to engage community leadership and critical community stakeholders to see to it that your properties are safe and that you are able to develop without any form of extortion, harassment or fear of your property being grabbed, confiscated, demolished or encroached.
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