Oworonshoki Demolition Struggle: AAC Ward Chairman and Others Arrested on Trumped-Up Charges

3rd October, 2025.

PRESS STATEMENT OF THE TAKE IT BACK MOVEMENT (TIB)

For Immediate Release

Oworonshoki Demolition Struggle: AAC Ward Chairman and Others Arrested on Trumped-Up Charges

The Take It Back (TIB) Movement and concerned residents of Oworonshoki condemn in the strongest terms the unlawful arrest, harassment, and brutalization of Bashiru Olaleye, Ward Chairman of the African Action Congress (AAC), along with Esther Koja and Sabitiu Woussa.

Bashiru Olaleye, a respected community leader, victim of the ongoing Oworonshoki demolition, and one of the principal figures leading the struggle against forced evictions, was on the morning of 3rd October, 2025 attacked by the local security outfit known as Madanwo, alongside two other TIB members. The trio were subsequently handed over to the Oworonshoki Police Division on the orders of the Oba of Oworonshoki, Babatunde Saliu, who has persistently targeted activists and community leaders resisting his alleged land-grabbing schemes. As we write, the trio are to be arraign secretly at the Magistrate Court on Trump up charges.

The victims are now facing trumped-up charges of killing a cow, following a fabricated accusation based on Madanwo operatives “tracing the blood of an injured cow.” This spurious allegation is clearly a cover to silence opposition voices and punish those who dare to speak against demolition and forced displacement in Oworonshoki.

We state unequivocally that:

1. The police must not allow themselves to be used as a tool of oppression by the Oba of Oworonshoki.
2. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Bashiru Olaleye, Esther Koja, and Sabitiu Woussa.
3. We demand the prosecution of the Madanwo security operatives who brutalized and unlawfully arrested our comrades.
4. We demand an end to continuous intimidation of activists, opposition leaders, and community members in Oworonshoki.
5. We call for an immediate halt to demolitions, and for the Lagos State Government to provide adequate compensation and resettlement for all victims of forced evictions.

This latest attack is part of a broader campaign of repression, intimidation, and dispossession of poor residents in Oworonshoki. We call on the general public, civil society, media, government authorities, and international human rights bodies to take urgent notice of these violations and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Oworonshoki belongs to its people, not to land grabbers or oppressive forces.

Signed,
Adekunle Adeyemi Taofeek
Lagos State Coordinator, Take It Back (TIB) Movement
Lagos State Chapter.