Some Ibadan Obas and village heads (Baales) on Wednesday decried in strong terms the unabated land grabbing activities in Ibadan with suspected ‘criminals’ hiding under the cover of the State Government to perpetuate the crime.
The kings alleged that these land grabbers go about in Oyo State Government vehicles and sacking villagers from their farmlands, family lands and properties.
For instance in many communities in Ona Ara Local Government Area of Oyo State at present, there is a delicate peace as land grabbers are currently on the prowl, sacking villages, and using law enforcement agents to harass land owners, and selling the grabbed land to estate developers.
Some members of the affected 40 families in a number of communities staged a protest against the land grabbing activities in the council area on Wednesday.
This was after a press conference held in one of the affected communities in the local government.
The land grabbing activities have been taking place despite the existence of the Real Properties Protection Law, 2016, which prescribes, on conviction, 15 years or a fine of N500,000 or both, for any person who, without lawful authority, uses or threatens violence for the purpose of grabbing any real property for himself or for any other person.
Alajia of Ajia, Oba Nureni Adegbenro, who spoke on behalf of all the kings and village heads (Baales) in the local government, told the land grabbing victims: “I want to assure you that this problem will soon be over. Our ancestors will intervene and do justice.
“But I must tell you that we the traditional rulers in this local government don’t have hands in the land grabbing cases in Ona Ara Local Government. We don’t grab land from anybody, and we did not send anybody to engage in land grabbing for us.
“There is one fact that you need to know; it is about the fact that the Adegbenros and the Akintolas are the owners of Ajia, which was established in 1886. The stool of Alajia of Ajia has been on rotational basis between the Adegbenros and Abiolas.
“The Adegbenros and the Akintolas are not involved in the land grabbing cases. Those people that are disturbing the peace of the land in this local government are not the original owners of the land. They are only inflicting pains on our people deliberately.”
Some of the victims of the land grabbing in the council area also took turn to narrate their ordeals in the hands of the land grabbers. It was reported that one of the young village heads was beaten to death by land grabbers, while some land owners are being pursued with assassins.
One of the victims, Asimiyu Onaolapo from Gbeleyi village, said a total of 850 acres of land have been grabbed from at least 21 families in the village.
According to Onaolapo, the land grabber that came to Gbeleyi village claimed that his great grandfathers gave the land to the owners of Gbeleyi village about 180 years ago and the great grandchildren have come to reclaim the land. He mentioned the name of the land grabbers, which is withheld by us for certain reasons.
“The land graber has been harassing us with police. They have used caterpillar to level our cocoa and other farm plantations. The developers that bought the land are also pursuing us. They don’t want to see us alive. The developers, who bought our land from the land grabbers, not us, are about to level our ancestral village.”
In the same vein, Bashiru Olajide, from Ogunbunmi village, also narrated similar bitter experience in the hands of land grabbers. He called on Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to intervene.
Another victim, Ahmed Oyebamiji, from Kupalo Ogunleye family also alleged that the land grabbers have been coming to Gbeleyi and other villages with vehicles having the name of Oyo State Government.
“They come with Oyo State Government vehicles. They come with guns and they would come in about 30 vehicles, carrying damerous weapons. It has always been a scary site to behold,” Oyebamiji stated.
Also, Wahab Anikulapo Bello from Matabo village said the land grabbing activities in the village had been reported to Ibadan traditional council at Oja’ba. But the action has not yielded positive results as the land grabbers have not stopped inflicting physical, emotional, and economic injuries on villagers in Ona Ara Local Government.
