Residents and property owners of Olawolede Oruola Community around rounder, a satellite town of Abeokuta metropolis, in the Abeokuta North Local Government have protested against invasion and demolition of their properties by the land grabbers claiming to be new owners of the area.
They lamented that they had been placed under a siege by the land grabbers.
Led by the chairman, Lawal Ibrahim, the protesters, under the banner of Olawolede Oruola Community Development Association, carried placards bearing different inscriptions and chanted anti-land grabbing choruses to draw the attention of the government to their plight.
They, however, appealed to the state governor, Dapo Abiodun, to save them from the harassment of the land grabbers whom they said laid siege on their community daily under the pretext of reclaiming the land.
Speaking with newsmen at the scene of the demolition, Lawal alleged that leader of the land grabbers had been using policemen to harass and intimidate them.
Flanked by other members of the CDA, Lawal explained that one of the real estate and property developing agent in the state had approached property owners in the community, ordering them to vacate their respective houses on the ground that it has acquired the property from the leader of the land grabbers.
The CDA chairman further explained that the property company in question forcefully ejected them out of their homes, using an earth moving machine, a bulldozer to demolish their buildings, even while some property owners were still inside the buildings, claiming that the 1, 000 hectares of land it acquired from leader of the land grabbers traverses their community.
At the community, it was observed that the earth moving machine, along other billboards erected by the land grabbers were still seen on several positions of the community, while beacons used by different property owners to demarcate their respective boundaries have been pulled down.
The protesting residents and property owners in the community who also visited the palace of Oba (Dr) Saburi Babajide Bakare in Gbagura however, appealed to Governor Abiodun not to hesitate at invoking the appropriate section of the law to sanction the intruders, particularly the one prohibiting forceful ejection on any land in the state.
The residents further called on the Inspector General of Police, Alkali Baba Usman to prevail on the police authority in Ogun to desist from using it’s operatives to harass innocent residents and property owners in the area.