Hirelings and hoodlums numbering about 1000, suspected to be land grabbers invaded Ifelodun community in Olorunsogo, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State, at the weekend, leaving behind pains, fear and uncertainty.
The attackers arrived the community as early as 10am with dangerous weapons and waylaid residents of the community, compelling the traditional ruler, Oba Samuel Olukayode Sodimu, to run for dear life.
Many hailed Oba Sodimu for the precautionary measures taken to stay safe from the invaders, recalling that hoodlums recently killed the Baale of Olowe Gbagura in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Chief Akin Muheedeen, and set his corpse ablaze.
The people also recalled similar incident that happened barely eight weeks ago when the Olu of Agodo, Oba Ayinde Odetola, in Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State was gruesomely murdered by armed hoodlums who set his corpse on fire afterwards.
The invasion of Sunren, Olorunsogo in Ifo Local Government by the suspected landgrabbers and their hoodlums, occurred on Wednesday morning.
A witness to the horrifying assault on the villagers said it took the intervention of the community youths who whisked the royal father, Oba Samuel Sodimu, out of the town from being killed.
The assailants, according to one of the youths, claimed that the landgrabbers are the rightful owners of the land stretching from Ibaragun, Papalanto, Ofada, Iro to Olorunsogo and spanning about 30 kilometres.
The fleeing monarch Oba Sodimu who spoke to newsmen from his hideout explained that the crisis dates back to November 2020.
He lamented that despite series of petitions to the Police and the Ogun state government calling for protection, there was no help yet from anywhere.
“We called the police, they did not yield to our calls. They said, about 60,000 acres of our lands have been given to former President Obasanjo. Even, about 60 percent of the community lands have been put under government acquisition.
“The attackers shot sporadically for over five hours without police intervention. They said they wanted to take possession of our land. I called the PPRO myself who said we should go to the Police station, we got to the police station, the police told us Baba Obasanjo had instructed them not to intervene in the land matter.
“We will remain resolute to defend our land with the last drop of our blood. We will not vacate the town for them, we shall wait to resist any attempt to take our land from us,” he said.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi denied knowledge of any attack on the community, saying the police was unaware of any attack by land grabbers on the residents of the community.
Abimbola explained that the only incident that took place was the court ballif who went in company of some policemen to the community to enforce a Supreme Court judgement.
“To the best of my knowledge, the Kabiyesi called me truly, but after investigation, we discovered that it was the court Ballif that went to the community to execute the Supreme Court judgement.
“The acclaimed land owners brought the judgement and we verified it to be genuine, so the Commissioner of Police directed the policemen to accompany the court Ballif to the place to execute the supreme court judgment,” he said.
But the monarch said those that invaded the community were not Ballif and police, describing them as armed assassins who shot sporadically with the intention to kill anyone that attempted to stand in their way.
On the purported judgement they claimed to have obtained from the court, the monarch stressed that they were not joined in the suit or communicated to them that there was a case in court contesting the ownership of the land.
” After getting the knowledge of the court case, we have to quickly swing into action and the case was dismissed in court,” Oba Sodimu affirmed.
The monarch, therefore, called on the state government to intervene immediately so that the peace being enjoyed presently will not be jeopardised because the youth in the community were resolute to resist them since there was no place for them to go.
The Daily Crucible
