*Allege forceful acquisition of land, property by the FG, Oyo govt
*Demand adequate compensation
By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Residents of over 30 communities in Akinyele Local Government Area of Ibadan in Oyo State mostly farmers have protested the alleged forceful acquisition of their ancestral lands and properties for Dry Port Project without adequate compensation.
The residents during a protest alleged payment of dude cheques and inadequate commensurate compensation of their properties by the Federal and the Oyo State government respectively.
During the protest by residents from Alausa, Orisunmibare, Oguntilewa, Jooye, Lapite, Ishabi, Ketepe, Akinbode, Oloje, Adamaro, Sonle, Apata, Dedun, Ojedeji, villages asked the Federal and the Oyo State Government to honour their previous agreements by properly resettling them and ensuring they don’t feel the impact of citing and construction of a Dry Port in the area.
According to the protesters, with the acquisition of the land for the Dry Port, farmers in the affected villages will be losing closing to over 310 acres of land without adequate compensation from the government.
Speaking on behalf of others, Mr. Balogun Oluwaseyi, Akorede Sikiru, Magreth Akerele, Tunji Adepoju, Monrufat Sunmonu gave the numbers of the communities affected by the land acquisition to about 31 villages.
Condemning the taking over of their lands and property for the Dry Port project without adequate commensurate compensation from the government, Mr. Balogun Oluwaseyi accused the Federal and Oyo State Government of not keeping their promises to the farmers on the land acquisition.
” Governments at all levels are yet to fulfill their promises, government at all levels have failed to stay through with our previous agreements, a move which had sent cold shivers down the spine of some of us”, he said.
Balogun added, “Some of us have been called by the state government through the ministry of lands for what they called commensurate payment, and we were given bounced cheques, the money given to us compared to our properties are insulting and demeaning.”
He stressed further, ” how can they be given us this kind of money, N35,000 for someone that has four hectres of farmland, I was given a bounced cheque of N2 million for both housing and landed property worth over N30 million.”
“The money they are paying us is not up to the amount they are supposed to give us, someone with five hectares of land was given N35,000, someone with six bed rooms bungalow on three plots of land was given a bounced cheque of N2 million, this is absurd, we all know how much building materials cost in today market. They also promised us resettlement, up till now, nothing was done.” He said.
Speaking for the women among the protesters, a resident, Monrufat Sunmonu said the acquisition of the land for the Dry Port has exposed the affected communities to various security hazards
“We are appealing to Oyo State government to come to our aid, security here has been so bad, criminal elements have turned the uncompleted buildings to their hideouts, armed robbers have been coming to attack us inside our house. I’m yet to collect my own money and those that have collected cheques, are yet to receive the payment as they have been complaining bitterly over bounced cheques issued by the state government”, she said.
Monrufat added, ” As the clock continues to tick, residents here hope that government at all levels would see reason by putting machinery in place towards ensuring they do not loss their priced heritage”.
