Engineer Abiodun Ariori Debunks Lagos State Police Command Allegations, Says “Iam Not A Land Grabber, Not On The Run”

By Mariam Adedamola Oyewole

The Chief Executive Officer,CEO, Prosperous Ariori Golden Ventures Ltd, Engineer Abiodun Akeem Ariori, has condemned in strong terms, his recent public declaration as a wanted Person by the Lagos State Police Command, over recent Owode Onirin crisis,without prior invitation to him, saying it was uncalled for.

Engineer Ariori, who posited that his undainted long standing image as a known property Developer is not in doubt, queried why the Lagos State Police Command jettisoned civilized method and international police investigation standard but rather chose to hurriedly declare him Wanted, even without recourse to accord him a formal police invitation through letter, telephone or text message.

According to him, ” In civilized climes, the right path to tow by the police, would have been to invite me to report to the command to state my own side of the matter or for questioning, but rather the Police Public Relations Officer, hurriedly rushed to condemn ,judged and painted me a Land Grabber ,while declaring me wanted, thereby destroying my hard earned reputation over the years, without giving me the right of hearing and Constitutional right of presumption of innocence until found guilty”.

The Engineer ,who said he is traumatized by the Lagos State Police Command actions, denied being on the run from the state Police command,as according to him,the investigation by the State Command appears to be a duplicity,as the land issues was already before the AIG Zone 2, where he said he was with his lawyer and other invited persons, few hours before hoodlums invaded his Company’s property space, attacked and wounded his Company’s officially approved Mobile police guards .

He debunked the State Police Command allegations, querying thus : “How can i be on run from the same State Police command,whose operatives had assisted my Company in executing the valid Court Judgements regarding the possession of the same land at Kilometer 13, Owode Onirin. Does it make any sense that I should be on the run when my multi million Naira property was what was destroyed by the hoodlums . Besides, even the legality of our possession of the land is also known to the Governor of the State, The Attorney General of the State and the State Building Control Agency”.

Ariori ,pleaded with the Inspector General of Police, IGP, to urgently intervene and save his life from what he called obvious gang up, just as he alerted the General Public, over threats to his life, adding that his life is in grave danger and seriously subjected to threats by persons unknown, since what he described as “the state police command pre- judgmentally and unilaterally declared him Wanted” over the incident he said he was not found within the vicinity of the crime scene.

Noting that he became traumatized when his family members, friends, Associates and business partners drew his attention to the Commands announcement, hence he resorted to hide and protect himself from looming danger to his life , especially” as the unnecessary police public declaration indicates that he most likely will not get fair hearing from the command that had called him a Land Grabber without any factual evidence”.

While giving his own side of the story regarding the fatal incident at Owode Onirin last week, through a telephone interview, Engineer Ariori,debunked the allegation by the Police that he is a Land Grabber, stating vividly that he is the sole legitimate representative of the rightful owners of the property known as B.I . Olowu family .

” The truth is that Land Grabbers do not go into the kind of physical structural development that our company is doing at Kilometer 13 Owode Onirin, they do not invest money, build and turn virgin landed property to modern master piece, what they do is to take people’s land and sell them off immediately and run away”, he enlightened .

Expressing disappointment over the Lagos State Command allegation that his police guards were on illegal duty at the scene of the incident, Engineer Ariori, tendered series of approvals letters from 2020 , including the most recent letter of August 8, 2025, issued by the mobile police top hierarchy in Abuja.

“My Company has been assigned with police guards through proper approvals since 2020, which has always been revalidated every year, including this month August,2025, and all these facts are in the database of the Lagos State Police Command, so how could the State Police Image Maker accuse me of using officers on illegal duty?, besides, it should concern the Authority to fish out the sponsors of the hoodlums who invaded our legitimate space and attacked and wounded Police officers that were on lawful duty , instead of rushing to make spurious allegations against me without proper verification”, Ariori said.

Highlighting on the Genesis of the case, Engineer Ariori’s Lawyer, Barrister Monye Francis of Monye, Monye & Co Chamber, in an interview with our Correspondent, confirmed that he visited the Police Public Relations Officer , CSP Benjamin Hundenyin and the Commissioner of Police on thursday and Friday last week, shortly after the Police Command declared his Client wanted,to avail the Command of his Clients side of the Story ,as well as to State the true position of the case , armed with valid documentary evidence.

Barrister Monye, also confirmed that the matter was already before the AIG Zone 2, through petitions by the parties involved, before the sudden invasion and destruction of his Clients property valued at N560, 000,000 million , being total value of the various and series of destruction within a short period of time.

Explaining further, he said, ” What happened last week at my Clients property space, was a coordinated unlawful invasion and attack with the aim of assassinating Engineer Abiodun Ariori, because the very vehicle vandalized and damaged was his operational vehicle, hence it is rational to conclude that the attackers thought he was inside the vehicle at the time of invasion, whereas the occupants were the Company’s officially approved police guards”.

On the issue of the land ownership , Barrister Monye stated thus: ” Prosperous Ariori Golden Ventures Ltd, headed by Engineer Abiodun Akeem Ariori, is the sole Representative and Power of Attorney holder of the land in question measuring 4.4 hectares of land, known as Kilometer 13 Owode Onirin, with Survey plan- MAl/121/97,situated along Ikorodu road, belonging to B.I.Olowu family, which they bought about 52 pounds in 1957 , from the indigenous owners.

The lawyer narrated that ” Early in 1990, kosofe/ Shomolu local Government Area and some persons unknown started trespassing on the land, hence the family instituted a legal action in 1994, delineated as Suit No. ID/1757/94, before Justice A. O . Holloway, filed through a veteran lawyer,Barrister Adedeji Adekoya.

“On June 2nd 1998, the family won the case and court awarded damages against the local government Area and other defendants.However, series of litigations cropped up and even there was an Appeal delineated as CA/L/523/2017, where Bode Olowu, Femi Olowu and Benson Ojeifo representated B .I.Olowu family against Shomolu local government, Agbajowa Market Association and others unknown. The Court of Appeal once again upheld the Rights of the B.I. Olowu family and deleted their opponents rights of Appeal, “Barrister Monye stated.

Continued He , “Despite these judgment, some illegal occupants and some Owode Onirin people continued their incursions and erection of illegal shanties, leading to the family between 2012 and 2019 applying for certificate of possession, known otherwise as Form O from the Court”.

In a post judgement application , on June 20,2024,” the family also sought for and got legal approval from Justice M.A.Savage , in line with the Order of the Court permitting the Family to take possession, removing shanties ,illegal structures and occupants with the assistance of the court Bailiffs,Sheriffs , Officers from the Lagos State Police Command and the lagos State Task Force, which Prosperous Ariori Golden Ventures Ltd handled on behalf of the family, thereby dislodging criminal elements who had tuned the place to their den .They were other executions of Court Judgement in 2001,2009,2012,2024″, Money said.

The legal luminary revealed that,”It is on record that the Governor and Attorney General of the state are aware of the property and had intervened , resolved issues and set modalities between the local government , Market Association and the family . Even Surveyors from the Lagos State Office of the Surveyor General, using drones , had also clarified the status quo for the lagos State Building Control Agency before possession was taken by the family”.

Barrister Monye, therefore called on the Inspector General of Police to urgently intervene and hand over the matter to a specialized police team, to ensure justice, equity,fairness and unbiased investigation.

He insisted that his client life has been endangered and under threat following the state police command declaring him wanted,hence his client posited that he has lost confidence in the “biased investigation process by the Lagos State Police Command”, whom his Client accused of having arbitrarily “adjudged him guilty, branded ,tagged him a Land Grabber and declared him Wanted before the media, without even extending invitation to him or hearing from him”.

Further clarifying issues, the Lawyer also insisted that his Client is not a land Grabber and not running away from the Police, noting that” no form of invitation was extended to him before the public embarrassment of declaring him wanted, which has destroyed his reputation , despite that he was not involved or present at the scene of the clash between hoodlums and the police guards”.

Regretting the colossal lost incurred by his Client, the Lawyer estimated that Prosperous Ariori Golden Ventures Ltd has lost over N560,000 000 through destruction of the company’s CCTV surveillance cameras, fence, canopy, iron rods ,Blocks making machines , 20,000 moulded blocks, operational vehicle and other building materials from the various attacks and destruction within some months.

To ensure a thorough investigation, Barrister Monye further pleaded with the IGP to avail himself with past and present investigations records from the Police Division that covers the area, the State Command, AIG Zone 2, AIG Alagbon,Homicide department , Lagos State Building Control Agency and the State Taskforce on land grabbing , adding that” the Police Chief will be shocked to find out that same sponsored hoodlums had in the past also harassed and attacked Police officers from the state command, Zone 2, lagos State government Surveyors and even snatched rifle from officers, which were later recovered without culprits prosecuted”.

It would be recalled that last week, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Command’s spokesperson, had announced in a statement on Wednesday that an officer was also severely injured in the conflict, which occurred in the Owode Onirin area.

According to him “In the course of the preliminary investigation and prima facie evidence available, one Abiodun Ariori, CEO of Prosperous Ariori Golden Venture Limited, is connected to the deadly clash between the traders and the land grabbers.

“He is hereby declared wanted by the Lagos State Police Command, as all efforts to effect his arrest and bring him to justice have so far proved abortive. It is very clear that he has gone into hiding,” Hundeyin stated.

However, the Lawyer faulted the Commands allegations and further maintained that the State Command did not trade on caution before making their declarations against his client, as no effort was made to invite Engineer Ariori at all, which contradicted the police Media trial and public announcement.