The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, has replied the Christian Association of Nigeria, Oyo Zone, over 96 plots (approximately 16 acres), at the Ayetoro Scheme in Oyo town.
Last month, the religious body protested that the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, must stay away from the disputed land.
The Oyo CAN, led by its executive council members, during the protest against Alaafin, said the land was procured by the body from the old Oyo Local Government Area authorities.
Reacting to the allegations, the Alaafin, in the letter on Tuesday, said the land and the adjoining property belonged to him.
The letter reads in part:
“Ordinarily, it is not in the practice or tradition of the Oyo palace to engage in public controversy with any sector of Oyo community, especially on religious matters.
“For the record, the land hitherto named as Ayetoro Scheme is erroneous, as the entire area is known as ‘Gbofin’ which incidentally is one of the ancestral stool lands of the Alaafin with approximately 1,118 plots as against the 96 plots claimed to have been owned by CAN; and Alaafin has been exercising ownership and in so doing, some parts of the land were allocated to members of the royal family without any consideration and have been inhabited by them or their allottees for a reasonably long period of time with over 2,000 buildings without disturbance from any quarters, including Atiba Local Government Area.
“It is also on records that it was through the instrumentality of the Alaafin that such reputable and highly revered religious bodies like the Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Catholic and of late, Pentecostal churches, were provided with auspicious land settlements in Oyo. This magnanimity goes to the extent of the Alaafin providing space for Sunday church service in his palace.
“To allege that the Alaafin of Oyo is trespassing or attempting to grab the said land is not only absurd but alien. Can the owner of the land be a trespasser or grabber of his own property? It looks not only absurd, but paradoxical for a group who supposedly parade themselves as godly people to be involved in fraudulent claims over land that was not only illegally transferred to them by Atiba LGA, but also fraught with inconsistencies as against the Alaafin, who had surveyed and registered the same land since 1996.”
