By Olatunde Ajayi
The Surveyor-General of Oyo State, Mr Olusoji Adeoye, has cautioned that outright selling ancestral lands means selling the future, identity and heritage of a family.
He stated this during a news conference organized by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII)as part of activities for the 2025 Ibadan week on Friday at Ibadan House.
Ibadan Cultural Festival tagged. “Ibadan Week” is an annual week long programme of the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII).
CCII is the umbrella body of all organisation, clubs, and societies of Ibadan indigenes both in Nigeria and diaspora.
“Though, the law of Nigeria permits any citizen to own property in any part of the country, however, no man is under any compulsion to sell his property.
“We must unite to protect our land, we can lease the land instead of outright sale for the benefits of generation unborn,” he said.
He also said that it would be difficult for an outsider to come and grab land in a particular community without collaboration of an insider.
Speaking earlier at the press conference, the President-General of CCII, Mr Ajeniyi Ajewole said the association has committed to tackle the menace of land grabbing in Ibadan.
Ajewole said that the aim of the conference was to sensitise family and community heads in Ibadan to the danger of selling ancestral lands to strangers.
He added that the conference also aimed to jointly profer solutions to land grabbing menace in Ibadan.
The president commended Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo state for establishing the anti-land grabbing agency to curb the widespread phenomenon of land grabbing in the state.
Also, Mr Musbau Adetunbi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said that lack of clear demarcation and documentation including rapid urbanisation and geometric population growth had increased competition for land leading to unlawful encroachment.
Adetunbi further noted that corruption and greediness of some influential Nigerians had also contributed to high rate of land grabbing in Nigeria.
According to him, the menace of land grabbing must be urgently addressed because of loss of lives and properties that usually come up with it.
“Government must come up with strong policies that would improve land governance and ensure good documentation of land in the state, “he said.
