Oyo state governor Engineer Seyi Makinde has been called upon to compel the chairman, Ibadan southwest local government, Mr Kehinde Akanni to stay off the Church land and pay compensations for what was described as illegal destruction of property on the land belonging to St Paul’s Anglican Church, Odo Ona Apata Ibadan.
The council chairman had led some of the local government officials who came with bulldozer to the land beside the church, with a view to forcefully take over the said property.
According to reports, the council boss claimed that the land was to be for official purposes.
Speaking on Friday, Vicar in charge of St Paul’s Anglican Church Odo Ona Apata, Venerable Dr Adeyemi Jesulola who condemned the act, said property worth millions of naira belonging to traders on the land were destroyed and the church land itself was exposed to erosion.
He said that “the local government sent a day quit notice to the tenants and we immediately wrote a letter to the DC state CID who called all the parties involved, including the chairman, Me Akanni for a meeting”
The priest who said despite police’s involvement, the council boss went ahead to demolish the place, but that three of the perpetrators were arrested during the act.
“We want it to go beyond arrest, people on the land must be compensated and the church land has also being tampered with. I believe this is bringing a big dent to the government that we know it’s the People’s government, I’m sure that the governor would not be in favor of this at all”
“The painful thing there was that we feel abused, cheated and disrespected and the people on the land, their fundamental human rights have been trampled on, more so when we feel the government in the state at the moment is for the people, a government that we all love and applaud”
Ven Jesulola also want the governor to caution the chairman to stay off the land.
“Now there are cases in court on that land, they should know that if they do anything outside the decision of the court, it is going to be a contempt of the court”
“It was a clear case of abuse of power and a way to subject the law abiding residents of the area to untold hardship. These are where people feed everyday at the instance of the church and enjoy their daily bread for over twenty years “
