Suspected land grabbers, along with some Chinese nationals, have been accused of allegedly destroying over 700 stands of highly-footing hybrid palm trees in the Ogere Remo area of Ogun State.
They were said to have invaded the farmland on July 18, 2023.
PUNCH Metro learnt from one of the family members identified as Adeleke Kalejaye that the suspected land grabbers invaded the farmland with tractors and bulldozed the entire plantation.
Following the destruction of the plantation by the suspects, the Chinese were said to have entered the land with their tractors to continue further clearing of the land.
Kalejaye lamented that despite having the Certificate of Ownership since 2013, the suspects had been using some law enforcement agencies to intimidate the family members, forcing them into silence, and driving them away from their over 40-year-old farmland.
Kalejaye said, “My late dad bought that land in the 1970s. He started planting palm trees on the farm in the 1980s. We have been farming there for over 40 years. We have had a peaceful engagement with the area. In 2013, the former governor of Ogun State signed our C of O. We continued farming on the land. Suddenly, in 2023, some guys just came in with tractors and destroyed the whole farm. All the palm trees were destroyed by these people.
“The destruction alone, besides the value of the land, is running into N100m worth of 700 stands of highly-rooted hybrid palm trees. They bulldozed everything. In all sincerity, it was the land grabbers that first came in to destroy the plantations; the Chinese were not there when the destruction was taking place.
“However, after the land grabbers cleared our plantation, the Chinese moved in with their tractors. They have been using some law enforcement officers to intimidate us from the onset. The land is only two kilometres after the interchange, just before the former tollgate in Ogere.
“I reported the matter to the Ogere police station. I had to move the case to the Zone 2 Command. Some of the land grabbers also went there after they were invited. The AIG then directed that they stop work and begin an investigation at the Land Bureau to find out about the authenticity of the two documents. The case was then moved to Abuja again.”
Efforts to speak with the force’s Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, proved abortive, as the message sent to him had yet to be responded to as of the time this report was filed.
