…turn houses into quarries
It’s a do-or-die battle between dredgers who are scooping for laterite deposits and residents of Akute-Lambe and Magboro area of Ogun state who are defending their living environment with the last drop of their blood. The battle, which had been dragging on for quite a while, reached a crescendo, recently, having claimed some lives and property worth several millions of naira.
A young man, who owns a barbing salon, James Omo Iya-Adua, told The Point that heavy-duty truck drivers, popularly called ‘tipper drivers’ and land-grabbers, commonly called ‘Omo-Onile’, routinely “descend on residents, scooping laterite deposits from their premises.”
“They break into people’s houses to scoop laterite. Even when occupants of the premises are out, they move in and dig up the sand. When deever the residents are indoors, they
keep mum for fear of harassment or assault from their aggressors,” Omo Iya-Adua said.
He further explained that the residents’ predicaments were worsened by heavy rainfall, which adversely affected houses constructed on sandy foundation. His explanation was corroborated by a woman who simply identified herself as Iyabeji.
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