By 
Abiodun OBA
The General Manager of Western Sun Hotels, Ede, Samuel Towolawi, has been arrested.
His arrest was over alleged attempted land grabbing, assault and malicious property damage.
Newsmen gathered that Towolawi was taken into custody in Ede on Saturday after he allegedly led hoodlums and armed soldiers to demolish an on-going building construction and chased away workers on a site behind the hotel.
The builder on site, Mutiu Tijani, said in a statement to the police that Towolawi’s gang also demolished the building on the orders of Kamar Yusuf, a serving Major General in the Nigerian Army and Chairman of Western Sun Hotels.
According to him, the gang allegedly beat up the workers and threatened the men never to return to the site, claiming that the General recently bought over the property from Ede North Local Government.
“While bricklayers were working on-site, to my surprise, General Manager of Western Sun Hotels, Samuel Towolawi, asked the workers to leave the site on the order of Gen. Yusuf.
“In fact, they demolished all works we have done and wasted the materials – bricks, sand, cement, we had to run for our dear lives,” the builder said.
It was learnt that the police have also invited the incumbent chairman of Ede North Local Government, Adeyemi Elliot, for questioning to explain his role in “assisting” the General in the land scandal.
When contacted, Osun Police Spokesperson, SP Yemisi Opalola, confirmed that a report of malicious damage has been reported at Police Division Ede.
Opalola confirmed that the matter was a land ownership tussle and appealed to the parties involved to maintain peace while the police carry out further investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, counsel to the owner of the property, Prince Akinwale Ojetimi, Adeyemi Giwa, has vowed to press further charges against the serving General, his agents and some council officials over their roles in the brazen illegality.
“All those involved in this brazen illegality will face the full weight of the law and pay dearly for it.
“It is inconceivable for anyone, no matter how highly placed, to surreptitiously want to wrestle our client’s property from him.
“The era of impunity is long over,” the lawyer stressed.
According to him, the land in question is a local government scheme that was legitimately allocated by the council to Ojetimi since 2004.
He said that the evolving odious developments, allegedly coming from the council, “are an unimaginable travesty and monumental fraud which must be promptly halted.”
Giwa had in a December 7, 2021 petition, asked the council to warn General Yusuf, Western Hotels and his agents against trespassing on the property
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