By Babatunde Ayedoju

Pa Adekunle (not real name) is an Akure-based businessman from a neighbouring state. Some years ago, he sent money, some hundreds of thousands of naira, to his brother to buy a piece of land for him in the village. The brother gladly accepted that responsibility.

Pa Adekunle also saddled his brother with the responsibility of helping him to monitor the land, pending the time that he would develop it. This responsibility, the brother gladly accepted as well. After some time, Pa Adekunle travelled to his village, only to discover that someone else had erected a building on his land.

What happened? Only the old man’s brother whom he had entrusted with the land could answer this question. However, the best answer the brother could give to this question was apologies. Why? What else could be the puzzle if not that the brother Pa Adekunle entrusted with the land sold it to someone else without carrying the real owner along and pocketed the money. A family affair, though, as some people would usually want this kind of matter to end.

A young man in his mid 40s who preferred anonymity owing to the sensitivity of the issue, shared similar experience with The Hope. This time, it was not a brother in the village. Rather, he wanted to buy a piece of land from a lady who had earlier bought the land from a family member in a choice part of Akure, the Ondo State capital.

The story has it that the lady bought six plots of land from the family member that owned the land for N1.2 million in 2016. Members of the family, known as Omo Oniles, threatened to sell any of the plots that was not developed promising to compensate the owner with another land elsewhere.

Complicity of fraudulent surveyors uncovered

This prompted the lady who had bought the six plots to put them up for sale, which was when the young man came into the picture.

He said, “We paid N5.5 million on that land. After the payment, something told me that I should engage the services of another surveyor, because earlier, the family that originally owned the land had insisted that their surveyor must be the one to attend to us. It is a common practice among families like that. When you patronise their own surveyor, he will help to cover up some shady deals that they have done; but when you hire another surveyor of your choice, he will help you uncover such shady deals.

“It was the private surveyor I hired who discovered that the land actually belonged to the government and I had paid. Even the person that I bought the land from did not know that the entire six plots belonged to the government. Honestly, she did not know, because anytime she wanted to sell part of the land, the family insisted that she engaged their own surveyor, who had actually been helping them to cover up their shady deals.”

He continued, “I bought two plots Block W, Plots 30 and 31. It was when we got to the Surveyor General’s office we discovered that block was not up to 31 plots. It’s just 21 plots, meaning that the family added 10 non- existent plots and they had a paper work to back up their claim. It was at the Surveyor-General’s office we discovered the original layout showing that the block had 21 plots, not 31.”

The young man said that he was able to retrieve his money, but added that those who bought other plots

The young man said that he was able to retrieve his money, but added that those who bought other plots were not so lucky and some of them had even started building on the land.

Legal experts advise land buyers to conduct investigation before purchase

The stories above are just some of the experiences people have with land grabbers, individuals who sell land to unsuspecting members of the public and fraudulently deprive the buyers of the same land they have paid for.

Mr Bode Akinyemi, a legal practitioner, advised that there should be due diligence in carrying out investigation or what is called search in legal parlance before buying any land. He explained that some landed property are owned by families and some are owned by the government.

His words: “Government land is easy to investigate through government agencies like the Ondo State Development and Property Corporation (OSDPC) and Land Registry at the Ministry of Land and Housing. Such land have Certificate of Occupancy (C of O). Once an individual wants to buy such land that has C of O, just make a copy of the C of O and proceed to either of the two offices I mentioned for verification.

“Write a letter to them to conduct a search on those property and determine whether there are encumbrances on them or not. Is there any court case over the land? Has the owner borrowed a loan from a financial institution, using it as a collateral security? If yes, has he finished paying back the loan? All these have to be determined.”

 Akinyemi recommended that anybody who intends to buy a land from a family should ensure that he knows the head and secretary of the family, saying, “If you are buying from someone who bought from the family earlier, make sure you see the receipt that the family issued.”

The legal practitioner also counselled against paying to a third party, because the owner may later deny receiving any payment. Likewise, he advised prospective land buyers to engage a lawyer to help them prepare documents that will seal the deal.

How to secure landed properties from land grabbers

As for people who have fallen victim of land grabbing already, he said that they should seek legal redress either by involving the police when it has taken a criminal dimension such as violating one aspect of the criminal code or the other (obtaining money under false pretence), or by initiating civil proceedings in court.

Mr Samuel Enesi, an architect, described land grabbing as the small or large-scale acquisition of land by foreign governments, companies, or individuals in a way that is unethical, exploitative, or illegal.

“It involves taking land from local communities or landed property owners without proper consent, fair compensation, or legal rights,” he explained further.

He recommended that to avoid land grabbing, investors or individuals buying landed property must ensure that the title documents are readily available before payment are made. He advised that a proper background check be done through a surveyor, land officer or land agent, to be sure that the property is not under dispute.

His words: “This will deter individuals selling landed property that is not theirs or their family land. It is also advisable to carry out some construction activity on a new property as soon as payment. This is a signal to prospective buyers that the land is not available for sale.”

Mr Solomon Fajana, an engineer, advised that anybody who wants to buy land should engage the services of a certified land surveyor who will do a background check on the land to ensure that every claim made by the seller is authentic.

He advised that this should be done even before making payment and stressed that any inconsistency discovered in the claim of the land seller is a red flag that must not be ignored at all.

He also advised that people should be careful with anyone who claims to be a representative of the family that owns the land, saying that some of such individuals have actually not been authorized to transact any business on behalf of the family.

He said, “When you are buying land from a family, make sure that the name of the family is the same as the name on the receipt that is being given to you, and ensure that the receipt is original. This should be done before you pay at all.

Another issue is that the person selling the land to you may be from that family, but it may not be his own land. Once, I almost fell victim of that. The person is a member of the family that owns the land. He would even issue receipt on behalf of the family, but the land does not belong to him and he has not been authorised to sell land on behalf of the family.”

While advising people to avoid rushing to buy any land, he said, “for me, what I do whenever I want to buy land is to pray first. Some people usually laugh at this but that is what I do, pray first. The place of God’s direction cannot be disputed when it comes to buying land. Also, avoid rushing to pay for any land. The owners may want to put pressure on you, that if you don’t pay now, somebody else will buy the land; but don’t be moved by that.”