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There is anxiety in Offa and Erin-Ile communities of Offa and Oyun local government areas of Kwara State.
Erin-Ile claimed it got a Supreme Court judgment on December 14, ceding some parcels of land in Offa to Erin-Ile, but Offa community has described its sister community’s claim as false.
Both communities had engaged in bloody clashes over ownership of some land.
Speaking on the judgment, the National President of Erin-Ile Progressive Union, Samuel Olu Alabi said: “In 1973, pursuant to administrative judicial panel, headed Justice Daramola, we got a Supreme Court judgment on December 10, that same year, confirming the boundary of Erin-Ile as far as NEPA office – the present Offa Descendants Union (ODU) and several other places – as belonging to Erin-Ile.Thereafter, there had been some administrative interventions to distort the Supreme Court confirmation.
“Few years after, the Offa community and some other individuals in Offa felt they should litigate the once resolved boundary. Like any other court case, it started from the High Court, and they lost. They appealed to the Court of Appeal and they lost. Finally, they went to the Supreme Court. On December 14, just a few days back, the Supreme Court not only dismissed the appeal, it (also) awarded a cost of N500,000 in favour of Erin-Ile.
“The court also classified the appeal as an abuse of court processes against known legal norms. It confirmed that the Erin-Ile land covers where we know now as the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Avalon Hotel and many other places. That is the background and the summary of the judgment.”
Alabi added that the community would soon swing into action for the enforcement of the judgment.
He said: “We are running a community, not a one-man show. We have already set up a committee to review the judgment. The committee will advise the EPU national body and the Elerin of Erin-Ile on the way forward.
“It will be too hasty for us now to say the steps we will take. We are studying the judgment and, at the end of the day, the whole world will know where we are heading to.
“But, unlike the 1973, when we did not take steps, this time round, we will take necessary steps in accordance with the judgment. When and how we are going to do it is not yet determined. The steps we are going to take include the execution of judgment validly delivered by the highest court of justice in Nigeria.
“There are established procedures for executing a court judgment. This is what we are going to adopt. We will not do anything against the law. Any judgment that is not enforceable is a mere waste of time, and our judges would not deliver judgments that cannot be enforced.
“We must know that there is no appeal after the Supreme Court judgment. Like I said, it is not going to be like a military intervention; the whole world will be told. Our neighbours will be duly advised through newspaper adverts. We will not allow people to work on sentiment and allow least informed people to think Erin-Ile is troublesome and violent.”
The President of Offa Descendants Union (ODU), Alhaji Najim Yaasin, urged the state government to caution Erin-Ile not to cause unnecessary tension by spreading false claims and reports to unsuspecting members of the public.
“That decision was challenged up to the Supreme Court and the court held that the decision could only be varied by the state government based on the law setting up the boundary commission.
“The present case arose from some families in Offa, who want their ancestral land that was wrongly given to some families in Erin-Ile.
“The Supreme Court’s recent ruling struck out the appeal on technical grounds of improper parties before the court and the matter has been settled by previous decision of the Supreme Court.”
The letter reads: “That the Dr Funsho Daramola’s report has been varied by different military governments of Kwara State. In 1975, Col. Ibrahim Taiwo amended the Bamgboye Edict to set aside the Dr Funsho Daramola report and, in its place, set up a committee of traditional rulers, headed by the late Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Zulu Karnaeni Gambari, which eventually fixed the boundary at the crest of the hill between the two community, called ‘Kere Ipinle’; a peace accord was then signed by both communities.
“In 1985, Group Captain Salaudeen Latinwo published an advertorial acquiring some 500 metres on both sides of Kere Ipinle boundary for buffer zone. In 1986, Wing Commander Ndatsu Umoru surveyed the buffer zone with register beacons and deposit, accordingly. In 1997, Col. P. A. M. Ogar (Military Administrator, or MILAD) signed the buffer zone into law and gazetted it accordingly.
“It is now crystal clear that various governments had varied severally the decision of Dr Funsho Daramola report and is no longer valid.
“Offa, therefore, rejects any claim to land by Erin-Ile beyond the present status quo. Offa will not concede any part of its land to Erin-Ile. Offa reiterates its position that the Supreme Court has not awarded any land to Erin-Ile.
“The Kwara State government is hereby called upon to caution Erin-Ile from creating problems where none exists.”
