2nd March, 2015
Damilare Okunola
Some female indigenes of Ilu Oloye in Ogun State in their 60s have stripped in protest over the activities of landgrabbers (omo oniles), whom they claimed have been oppressing them for years.
They took to the streets after the arrest of their fathers, husbands and leaders for being involved in a land tussle with the landgrabbers
With placards bearing words such “FG Help Us”, among others, the women cursed the landgrabbers, stating that they had been rendered homeless and their children have also been denied their education since they could no longer work on their farm lands from where the alleged landgrabbers purportedly sent them out.
During the protest which took place in front of the Shagamu Road Police Station in Ikorodu, Lagos State, the indigenes revealed that it was not the first of its kind but the people are now calling on relevant authorities to come to their aid and save them from the oppressors.
Speaking on behalf of the aggrieved people, legal counsel to the community, Barrister Oluwatoyin Sadik, explained that the issue which dates back to 2009, has been a nightmare for some of the Ikorodu residents, who have been experiencing violent attacks on their farmlands.
According to him, “the farmlands stretch as far as Shagamu and overnight, people just come up with certain issues and send the inhabitants away forcefully.
“The Baale and a few other people were arrested and detained over charges of conduct likely to breach peace which is a minor offence, but someone was sent all the way from Abuja to arrest and prosecute these people.
“We are in court and we have tried to address this issue but it seems the people are helpless because the police have not helped in this matter since the oppression began.”
While alleging that the Police may have been conniving with the landgrabbers to oppress the indigenes, the legal practitioner explained further stating, “let me tell you their modus operandi. The police will enter the community but behind their vans are the hoodlums fully armed. After making noise in the community, the police will tactically withdraw and the hoodlums will take over.
“They invade villages at random, and as we speak, they may be in other villages. We have prepared our papers since last year to take the landgrabbers to court, but because the land is in Ogun State, we cannot proceed due to the strike by courts in the state.
“We are appealing to the Inspector General of Police and other government agencies to come to the people’s aide. If the land grabbers claimed that they bought the parcels of land, they do not have any court order to move in and destroy these mud houses, some of which had existed for over 200 years.
The people arrested have since been released on bail.
When contacted, one of the people the community alleged was involved in the issue, told our correspondent that he was in Saudi Arabia and did not know anything about the dispute going on in the country.
“Truly, I bought acres of land from the community, but I do not know why they are in dispute now. I was surprised to receive this call asking me if truly I instructed people to send them out or beat people up.
“Currently, I am in Saudi Arabia and as for the people in dispute, I truly do not know what it is all about,” he said.