Lagos police fingered in property dispute between mother, son

Nigeria Police Force, Zone II Command in Lagos, has been fingered in the dispute over a property, located at Sanya Street, in Coker Aguda Local Council Development Area of Lagos. The police are accused of aiding a party to dispute to exhume a corpse interred in the disputed building.

PUNCH is reporting that the dispute is between one Dapo Olofinmakin and his mother, Olufunmilayo.

Dapo’s late father, Segun, allegedly built the property, where his remains were equally buried. According to Dapo, his mother, who had left his father in his lifetime to marry another man, returned to claim the property.

She is said to have led some policemen from the zone to the property, where Segun and his daughter were arrested and detained.

The detention was allegedly to pave way for the exhumation of Dapo’s father’s remains from the property. Dapo claims that his mother is intent on selling the property, but he refused to agree to it.

He said, “I am the only child of my mother and father; sometime between 1982 and 1995, my father was not around to manage his property because he had some challenges. During this period, my mother got married to one Alhaji Onisemo, who is now late, and she gave birth to my stepsister, Bukola.

“I was in South Africa when my father died and could not return home to bury him because of the travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, it was my uncle, Olu Akomolafe, who is my mother’s brother, and members of the Sanya Street Landlord Association that buried my father.

“When I returned from South Africa, my mother started claiming she owned my father’s house. While my mother, a family member and I were at loggerheads over claims to the property, on October 28, 2021, she came with policemen around 7.30 am to arrest me at my father’s house.

“They took me to the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, where I was detained till they exhumed my father’s corpse on that same day. I was later released around 8pm. As I speak to you, I don’t know where she buried my father’s corpse or what she did with the corpse. She did all these things because she wanted to sell that house and I refused.”

Dapo stated that some tenants in the house saw his mother remove his father’s remains from his grave.

Contacted, Dapo’s mother Olufunmilayo insisted she own the property, but without providing any evidence.

She said, “That boy is a liar. I built that house and he’s here laying claims to what is not his property; my lawyer will contact you later.”

But Dapo’s uncle, who incidentally is Olufunmilayo’s brother, attested to Segun owning the property.

He said, “I am a pastor and I will not tell lies. Late Segun, my in-law, owned that house legally and it is now his son’s. My sister left (Segun) and remarried in 1982 and she had children with the other man and when my in-law died in 2020, she did not even attend his burial.

“I and members of the Sanya Street Landlord Association, Aguda, buried Dapo’s father because he was not in the country when his father died. I was surprised when I heard that my sister had gone to exhume his corpse and she is claiming the house, which is not hers.”

The report stated that Hauwa Idris, the Zonal Police Public Relations Officer for the Zone II Police, could not provide the details of the alleged arrest and detention.

She reportedly said, “There is no police reaction to this matter until I am able to get details of the case.”