By Olufemi Oni, Ilorin

Contrary to the ruling of a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin, suspected land grabbers have used the instrumentality of some law enforcement agents to forcefully halt the ongoing construction of a 200-capacity lecture hall at the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin.

The land grabbers and some policemen, it was gathered, stormed the State’s premier institution’s permanent campus last Thursday to stop further work on the project being undertaken by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund ( TETFund), allegedly on the order of an Area court judge.

The Area Court judge, it was learnt, issued a stop work order on the project, contrary to the position of the state High Court.

It was gathered that the policemen that carried out the operation also whisked away three security officers of the polytechnic, namely, Alhaji Abdullahi Ajia, Dauda 0laiya and Abdulrahman Kamaldeen, and were subsequently remanded at the Ilorin Custodial Centre, Oke- Kura for no just cause.

The State High Court sitting in Ilorin and presided over by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Abiodun Adebara, had in a ruling on the encroached Polytechnic land on June 5, 2023 upheld the objection of the institution to the claim of ownership of the land by some people.

It was further gathered that the management of the polytechnic would soon send a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) over the unacceptable conduct of the Area Court Judge involved in the matter and his disrespect for the injunction of the State High Court.

It would be recalled that the management of the polytechnic has been having a running battle with land grabbers who have illegally taken over a large chunk of the institution’s land.

While the management on Monday placed advertorial in some print and electronic media, issuing ultimatum to those who have encroached the institution’s land to vacate within seven days after the date of publication, the alumni of the institution also addressed a news conference on Wednesday, vowing to use all legal means to recover the encroached land.

The alumni association under the leadership of Engr Abu Salami, however, called on the state government to assist the institution in recovering its vast land from those who have encroached on it in order to allow for the development and growth of the state’s oldest tertiary institution.

And in response to the polytechnic’s alumni’s distress call, the state government through the chief press secretary to Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Rafiu Ajakaye, at a media parley in Ilorin last Thursday, asked the management of the institution to use all legal means to recover the encroached land.