The people of Odogbolu in Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State have protested the forceful acquisition of their farmland of about 2,000 hectares by the state government for the use of some foreign investors.
They alleged that the development had deprived many of them their main sources of livelihood.
The spokesman for the community, Elder Babatunde Jaiyesimi, made this allegation during a peaceful protest to the traditional ruler of the community, Oba Adedeji Onagoruwa, who the community also accused of conspiring with the foreign investors to seize their farmlands.
Jaiyesinmi further alleged that since the foreign investors moved in and began the clearing of the land, they had destroyed their plantain, cassava and rice plantations as well fish ponds, running into several millions of naira, leaving many residents of the town with no means to fend for their dependants.
‘Rather than destroying our substantial contributions to the government efforts to diversify the economy via agriculture, out of about 1,200 hectares of land acquired some years ago for the Ogun River Basin Authority, about 650 hectares are still lying fallow and now a safe haven for some Hausa Fulani and their cows. Why can’t this vast parcel of land be given to the investors, instead of the one where many of us pick our daily bread from? This move smacks of sheer insensitivity to the plight of the rural dwellers,” he said.
