Michael Lana, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate for governor in the upcoming 2023 elections in Oyo State, declared on Wednesday that he intended to file a lawsuit against Governor Seyi Makinde for alleged illegal purchase of land.
He said that the current Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led administration headed by Makinde had taken over certain lands, depriving nearly 5,000 residents of their rights.
The SDP candidate said he intended to engage the government on setback given to the outer ring road, which was originally 75 meters and increased to 500 meters by the current administration, during a speech in Ibadan at a program organized by the Political Commission of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Oyo State chapter, titled “One on One with Oyo Workers.”
He said, “The setback has deprived over 5,000 villagers of their land, I will reverse it if I become the governor, and if I don’t win, I will still sue the government. You can not just take people’s land for private investment, it is unlawful and illegal.”
He also said he would review the acquisition of land for the free trade zone from Guru Mahara Ji to the boundary between Oyo and Ogun State along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway, saying it was wrong under the law to acquire land for a particular purpose and use it for another purpose
