The Ogun State Government has filed land-grabbing charges against two traditional rulers in the state.

The traditional rulers are the Onijoko of Ijoko Ota, Oba Fatai Matanmi, and the Olu of Orile-Igbon, Igbesa, Oba Yusuff Olasunkanmi.

This was contained in a statement by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), on Tuesday.

The government stated that it filed charges of forceful takeover of land and forcible entry of land contrary to law against Oba Matanmi.

This was said to have followed an investigation which revealed that Matanmi sold a parcel of land in 1976 for 22,000 to one Madam Irokosu, now late.

The statement added that in her lifetime, Madam Irokosu fenced the land and sold it in 2016 to the complainant, who immediately took possession, adding that after the death of Irokosu, Oba Matanmi began to harass the complainant, claiming that the deceased owed him a balance of N28,000.

The statement added, “Although this claim was bogus, the complainant paid N5,000,000 to Oba Matanmi to let peace reign, but the Oba continued to harass the complainant, leading to the charges filed in HCT/84R/2025 The State v. Oba Fatai Matanmi.”

Similarly, the state slammed Oba Olasunkanmi with charges of forceful entry into a land using intermediaries, and allegedly unlawfully appropriating land belonging to a complainant and many other persons.

While using the cover of a judgment obtained against third parties, Olasunkanmi allegedly commissioned the attachment of land and enforcement of the judgment in areas more than one kilometre away from the judgment land.

The Oba, the statement added, then chased away the legitimate occupants of the land.

He will be arraigned on Thursday, September 25, 2025.

Furthermore, the state filed charges against two other persons, Chief Lekan Agbogun and Chief Akinbowale Beckley, who sold a complainant’s property in the Mosafejo area of Abeokuta, without authority.

Agbogun and Akinbowale allegedly connived and sold a third party’s property to a buyer overseas without any title claim or documents to the land, despite the existing building of the complainant on the land.

The statement added, “While these defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty, the state has filed these charges as a further demonstration of the state’s commitment to tackling land grabbing and criminal dealings regarding land.

“The state government assures the public that no matter the personalities involved, where the facts warrant and it is in the public interest to do so, the state will resist and redress all land grabbing actions that come to its notice.”