Lagos State Attorney General Adeola Ipaye said Monday police are not providing adequate cooperation in the government’s war on land grabbing. Ipaye told reporters that prosecutors face delays obtaining evidence, arrests and scene security needed to convict organized land syndicates.
Land grabbing has surged on the city’s expanding periphery, displacing homeowners and complicating real estate investment. The state has established special units and fast-track courts, but officials say enforcement bottlenecks persist.
Police representatives countered that understaffing and overlapping jurisdictional claims slow responses. Civil society groups urged independent monitoring of evictions to prevent abuses.
Developers called for digitized land titles to reduce fraud. The attorney general said upcoming interagency meetings would set performance benchmarks for commanders.
Property developers supported stronger enforcement, saying land fraud deters investment in Lagos suburbs. Police headquarters in Abuja promised to review Lagos complaints at a scheduled meeting Thursday. Victims’ associations demanded a hotline for reporting forced evictions with rapid response teams.
Land registry digitization pilots in Lagos will expand if police cooperation improves, officials said. Real estate investors welcomed the attorney general’s public pressure on law enforcement agencies.
Courts in Lagos listed additional land-grabbing cases for accelerated hearings in June. Tenant unions asked the state to create a rapid-response hotline for illegal evictions.
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News Headlines May 25, 2026. Headlines From Nigeria’s Major Newspapers