Ambode urges President Buhari to disband task force

Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Tuesday urged President Muhammadu Buhari to disband the Presidential Task Force Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government Landed Properties.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Habib Aruna, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, in Ikeja.

According to the statement, Ambode's call is against the backdrop of several petitions lamenting the "nefarious and reprehensible activities’’ of the task force in the State.

It said that the task force, whose existence and legality is still in doubt, has unlawfully embarked on a brazen seizure, take over and appropriation of State and Federal Government properties.

''The activities of the task force has left in its wake, a near total destruction, displacement, stoppage, including unprovoked mass harassment, intimidation, molestation and denial of the original owners of the land and properties,’’ the statement said.

According to the statement, there is also an order of Interlocutory Injunction granted by the High Court of Lagos State, with the restraining orders widely published in newspapers.

''The Governor, therefore, calls on President Buhari to immediately disband the Task Force to forestall a breakdown of law and order. Their activities presently constitute a security risk in the State," it said

It would be recalled that the committee had been in operation before the President Buhari-led administration assumed office.