COMMUNITY CONVENES PEACE FORUM

By NBF NEWS

The Agege community in Lagos State has convened a peace meeting to resolve conflicts in the area triggered by party registration in January 2010.

The fracas, which occurred during the registration left five persons seriously wounded with gunshots and machete cuts.

The wounded persons were said to have gone to court to seek redress, but the community intervened through a peace meeting initiated by the Olu of Agege Kingdom, Oba Atanda Adams.

The communiqué reached after the meeting said that the community appealed to the warring persons to bury their hatchets in the interest of peaceful coexistence and development of the area.

It also said that all the party leaders and stakeholders resolved to settle the conflicts out of court.

The communiqué also said, 'Henceforth, no party leaders must bail any party member who gets himself or herself into police custody on the account of hooliganism or fighting.

'Again, all party leaders must come into the open to tell their followers that under no circumstance must they resort to fighting to resolve any issue.'

The party leaders and stakeholders also sent an appeal to the Chairman of Orile-Agege Local Council Development Area, Mr. Taofeek Adaranijo, to withdraw all the cases from law court.

According to the commnique, Adaranijo acceded to the appeal and asked his lawyers to withdraw the case from Court II, Ebute Metta, which had since been withdrawn.

A copy of the withdrawal letter with reference Re-Charge No. A/17A/2010, addressed to the Registrar, Magistrate Court No. II, Ebute Metta, Lagos, was made available to our correspondent on Monday.

The withdrawal letter from Rotimi Akomolafe & Co. reads in part, 'We have our client instructions to withdraw the charge against the defendants, Messrs. Akeem Fasasi; Azeez Olayemi and Adeyinka Akeem and discontinue the case against them forthwith.'

'The withdrawal is premised on the intervention of well-meaning members of the Agege community, particularly the intervention of His Royal Majesty, the Olu of Agege Kingdom on the matter, who prevailed on all the parties to sheathe their swords, hence the decision to withdraw the suit.'

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Adaranijo confirmed the incident, saying he had withdrawn the matter from court.

He enjoined the residents to embrace peace, saying that it remained catalyst for societal growth and development.