Residents of the agrarian community of Aponmu in Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State have protested the invasion of their farmlands by suspected land grabbers who destroyed crops and maimed farmers in the community.
Armed with placards with various inscriptions, including “Mr Governor, please help us,” “Our Coca farms have been taken over by land grabbers”, “Our Governor, Aponmu people are suffering from hand of land grabbers and “Mr Governor, please save our soul we are suffering” the residents called on Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to come to the rescue to prevent breakdown of law and order.
Speaking to reporters, the leader of the protesters, Tayo Olauyi, said the activities of land grabbers have made life unbearable for farmers and residents of Aponmu. He said efforts to check the illegal activities of the hoodlums who usually come to destroy crops have proved abortive.
In a letter submitted to the government through the Special Adviser to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Special Duties, Comrade Bola Taiwo, the protesters sought the government’s intervention to prevent a breakdown of law and order.
It said, “This is to inform Your Excellency of an imminent threat to peace in Aponmu, arising from possible confrontation with land grabbers operating in the community, which may lead to a breakdown of law and order.
“Aponmu is a multi-ethnic settlement, which, over a century, accommodated different ethnic nationalities across Nigeria, whose preoccupation is cocoa farming. Many people own cocoa plantations, which are their only source of livelihood.
“Over some time now, this source of income has been under the threat of certain known and unknown individuals who claim that they were acting under the authority and authorization of a traditional authority.
“These people usually come in warlike manners, armed with attack weapons, forcefully take over cocoa farms, clear the farms with earth-moving equipment, survey, and sell away. They do this with impunity, sometimes getting the farm owners framed up, arrested, detained, and later released after such poor innocents had been cowed down and silenced through brutish intimidation.
“Large areas of cocoa farms have been destroyed and annexed this way by force. Some years ago, one Emmanuel Ogboriefon, an Aponmu Community leader, was hacked to death on his farm while resisting the incursion into his farm by these land grabbers. One Charles Akinrolayo lost almost all his cocoa farmland to these land marauders, who bulldozed and sold it. To forestall resistance, he was arrested, taken to Ondo town, and detained for four days.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that cocoa is a veritable source of revenue and a mainstay of Ondo State’s economy. In fact, it is an important integral contribution to Nigeria’s GDP. Sadly, these economic trees are being destroyed in their millions for the selfish purposes of a few individuals.
“Besides the state losing revenue, hundreds of cocoa owners and their dependents are dying, and others are groaning in hunger due to the illegal grabbing of their sources of income.
“The happenings in Aponmu display a picture of a state of anarchy. It is as if there is no law in Ondo State. It appears as if the government is not in place, as farm owners are bundled away, and no one defends them.
“Some of the people being used to execute for this heinous act are jobless men, now gallivanting around Aponmu in expensive vehicles and suddenly becoming local financiers, lending money to the victims with interest. Daily, Aponmu villagers live in palpable fear, not knowing whose turn it is for his farm to be overridden.”
