Crisis is imminent at Odan-Agbara, in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State, where some people allegedly invaded and took over farmlands said to belong to Odan families.
The disputed land is located at Petedo area of the Gateway state. In a petition written on their behalf by their lawyer, Otunba Shina Ogunyale, from Shina Ogunyale & Co, to the Acting Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, the Odan families fingered Lawson and Ashimi (other names withheld) as allegedly hiring armed mobile policemen, and thugs, numbering about 100, to harass them over the land.
According to the petitioners, the use of thugs to intimidate their families had led to some of them abandoning their homes and farmlands for fear of further attacks.
A statement signed by eight heads of their various families, Chief Waheed Fashina, Chief Hassan Adamson, Chief Leasu Whesu, Chief Jimoh Sangosole, Alhaji Idowu Adenle, Mr. Nupo Samuel, Mr. Nuah Ibiaho and Mr. Lasis Liesu, and made available to Daily Sun alleged their opponents approached them for permission to carry out test on the soil, to enable them sink a borehole in the community.
“As soon as the permission was granted, they moved to the farmland with bulldozers and other equipment and cleared the area, which serves as the food basket of the community,” they said.
Chief Fashina, who is the Baale of Odan community lamented that the incursion had brought untold hardship to members of his community, as their major source of livelihood had been taken away from them.
“Now, we don’t have farmland to cultivate crops and the community is at a risk of hunger,” he said.
Sangosole narrated how he went to the farm on that fateful day to harvest some cassava tubers only to be confronted by armed policemen and thugs, who according to him, beat him black and blue, before uprooting their crops.
But one of the residents of Agbara Estate, who spoke to the reporter on condition of anonymity, said the land was purchased from Idoluba community in the early 70s, adding that the documents are intact and would be tendered in court at the appropriate time.
But this claim was countered by Fashina. According to him, the land is jointly owned by Idoluba and Odan communities. Meanwhile, the Odan community has accused the police of bias. In the petition to Ringim, Ogunyale also argued whether it was possible for the armed policemen to invade the area without the knowledge of their superiors.
source: The Sun
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