Lagos land grabbers strike fear and deter investment

The plot of land David John bought and fenced 10 years ago doesn’t belong to him anymore. In August 2022, a business mogul moved into the property with bulldozers and heavy duty vehicles. One year later, a four-storey apartment building, in the latter stages of completion, is standing on land in Lekki, an elite neighbourhood in Lagos.

“The police told us there is nothing they can do. We wrote a petition to the land grabbers task force and we did not hear from them,” John tells The Africa Report, referring to the task force set up by Lagos State Government in 2016.