Ogun community protests ancestral land takeover
Scores of residents of Areke community in Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State have staged a protest at the Sagamu Interchange against the alleged proposed takeover of their village and the demolition of their houses by the state government.
They alleged that the takeover was to pave the way for the siting of more manufacturing industries in the area.
However, the state government through its Bureau of Lands and Survey claimed that it had paid owners of land in the area the sum of N300m as compensation.
Many of the villagers denied receiving such money, arguing that only a handful of them, mostly settlers, were compensated.
They accused the state government of being insensitive to their plight.
They also alleged that the government had already acquired 440 hectares of the community’s land mass of 500 hectares and sold it to manufacturing companies.
The villagers noted that the state government had marked out another 30 hectares from remaining 60 hectares for siting of industries, which they said would render them homeless and without any ancestral roots.
They displayed placards, some of which read: ‘Ogun State Government, please, leave our ancestral land’; ‘Leave our forefathers’ land for us in Areke, we are begging you’; and ‘Areke people are begging government to please, vacate our land now’.
The protesters appealed to the state government to shelve the planned acquisition of any part of the remaining 60 hectares of the community land and the demolition of the few remaining houses in the village.
The spokesperson for the community, Odufora Awojebe, said over 300 houses would be affected and over 1,000 residents would be rendered homeless.
He appealed to the government to consider the plight of the villagers now confronted with the loss of their ancestral home, adding that taking over the remaining 60 hectares, which included the land earmarked for the construction of schools, market and hospital, would be tantamount to exterminating the entire community.
“We know the governor as a man of the people. We voted for him during the elections. I knew him since I was working with Total. We are sure the governor knows nothing about this matter.
“Out of the 500 hectares of land the community used to ha0;0ve, only 60 is left and now they want to take the remaining and send us to the street.
“Some of the companies already operating here have yet to pay us compensation for the crops and economic trees that had to give way for them to locate their factories here. Some of them have not given even one indigene of this community the smallest job in their companies. This is our homestead, our roots and we are begging the government to leave the remaining 60 hectares for us.”
Meanwhile, officials of the Ogun State Bureau of Lands and Survey declined to comment on the matter.
Also, the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa, did not pick calls made to his telephone by our correspondent, neither did he reply the text messages sent to his mobile telephone.
