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.....residents cry to Gov Abiodun, IGP, others
Governor Dapo Abiodun and the police are under pressure to stop the activities of land grabbers suspected to be agents of one Mutairu Owoeye who has allegedly been terrorizing some communities in Ogun State.
A community leader in Onigbedu, Ewekoro local government area of the state, Ahmed Adeniyi Mustapha, for instance, alleged that due to the activities of the suspected land grabbers, Onigbedu farmers and environs can no longer go to their farms.
Owoeye has also been accused by many landowners in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of the state of seizing their lands.
Many of the victims, it was learnt, could not report the injustice to security agents because of fear of reprisal and claim that some police officers in the areas are in the suspected land-grabbing kingpin’s pocket.
Narrating his ordeal, Mustapha said, “I was on my way to my site when a man on a motorcycle with a jumbo cooler on his laps passed beside me on a newly graded road dividing Onigbedu land into two.
“The man alighted from the motorcycle and began to challenge me. ‘Who are you? Are you not aware that you should not work on this newly graded land? Even your king, Matthew Ajibulu, will be disgraced if found here’.
“He made a phone call and within three minutes about eight thugs on four motorcycles showed up with cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.
“I was marched out of the site with planks freely used to beat me and when they noticed that l could no longer walk due to injuries sustained, l was commanded to climb one of their motorcycles and was driven to the main road’’.
“Few minutes after, about 43 thugs rounded me up with dangerous weapons. I was flogged severally with planks and wounded on my right hand, leg and my back. They wanted to paralyze half of my body. I was warned not to come to the site or else l will be killed.
After this terrible experience, l managed to get to a nearby police post in Onigbedu to incident my complaint, but l was surprised that one of the officers told me that l should go to a higher police station because some officers came from Abuja the happenings in the community. To me, it sounded strange because Abuja is the highest police office in Nigeria.
“I want to appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun and the police, especially the IGP, to save us in Onigbedu and the environs because residents are not allowed to go to farm anymore. Traders also are not allowed to sell their goods by suspected Owoeye boys”.
Meanwhile, a Non-Governmental Organization, Centre for Democracy and Socio-Economic Rights, (CEDESER), has called on Governor Abiodun, the state Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Oladimeji and the IGP to probe the alleged activities of Owoeye, accusing his agents of terrorizing, attacking and destroying people’s properties, farm and means of livelihood in Ewekoro and Ado-Odo/Ota local government areas of Ogun State.
The group, in a statement by its President, Popoola Ajayi, called on the governor and the police to take decisive action against the suspected land-grabbing kingpin.
CEDESER said: “The people of Onigbedu, Elere, Ajipatutu, Akorogbo and environs have been living in fear due to the activities of the suspected notorious land grabber, Alhaji Mutairu Owoeye, and his agents who have been terrorizing, attacking, destroying their properties, farmlands, crops, and other means of livelihood with a bulldozer.
"We, therefore, appeal to Governor Dapo Abiodun and Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Olanrewaju Oladimeji, to summon the courage to deal decisively with the situation.
“It is also alleged that Owoeye and his agents go about with persons in army and police uniforms which suggest that security agents are working hands in glove with the suspected land grabbers.
“We also call on Ogun State Speaker, Olakunle Oluomo, to compel the executive arm of government in the state, especially the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, to enforce the sections dealing with land grabbing in the Prohibition of Forcible Occupation of Landed Properties, Armed Robbery, Kidnapping, Cultism And Other Anti-Violence and Related Offences Law 2016 or withdraw the sections for the citizen to plan their own help.”
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