By Funso Alarape
Saturday March 2, 2024
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The residents of Olodo, an agrarian village in Awosun Community in Ile Ife, Osun State have alleged that some land grabbers who are masquerading as road construction workers are planning to take over their lands.
The resident who has sent an SOS to the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi said that the demolition exercise will make all they have labored for in life go down the drain.
A resident of the community, who identified himself simply as Ade, said the problem started a couple of weeks ago when a group of people came into the village and claimed that they were there in preparation for a road construction exercise.
Ade said as would be expected, the people were elated at the news of a development they believed would impact positively on people. He said the residents believed also that the development would encourage many residents of the community who had abandoned their lands to start building their houses.
Alas, they were wrong as they later discovered to their chagrin that many of them would not only be unable to build their houses, but they could lose their entire investments at the end of the day.
Ade said the residents’ worries assumed a new twist as the invaders claimed that they were acting on behalf of Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi while the people are of the firm belief that the highly revered traditional ruler would not be a party to the unholy mission.
Ade said: “It could just be that they came to drop the Ooni’s name to grab our lands.
“We noticed that one Barry White, identified by some people as the Ooni’s engineer, just came in and started measuring the road that enters our street from Ibadan Road, Zone 1 Awosun Quarters.
“When we accosted him, he said the Kabiyesi (Ooni) wanted to take over the land because he would soon start building an estate somewhere close to us.
“Initially, we were upbeat about the development. But the following day, we were told that some properties would be affected because the road would be dual carriage as against the initial one lane.”
The residents became restless, realizing that many of their properties would have to make way for the two-lane road as against the one-lane designed in the original survey. Unfortunately, many of them are just building their first house.
Getting wind of the situation, those who originally sold the land to the present owners decided to resist those who were trying to construct the road outside what is in the survey plan.
According to Ade, the original owners of the land, the Kolokolo Family, told the residents that it had made a provision for the road leading to the land for the proposed estate, hence there was no need for the owners of the estate to take peoples’ lands.
Ade said a week after the contractor and other alleged invaders were chased out of the land, the residents were surprised that the contractors returned to the site, saying, “Kabiyesi is interested in the land and he wants to use it.”
Again, the community resisted and forced the contractors to leave the site and move to another place to construct the road to their estate.
While the owners of the properties were happy that they would now enjoy a respite, whatever respite there was turned out an ephemeral one.
“We were surprised that the situation of those at the new site chosen for the road became worse because many houses would be demolished.
“There, they took 40 meters and have started marking houses in the area for demolition.
“The contractor allegedly told the property owners in the area that the houses located in the vicinity were not expensive, hence the Kabiyesi should be able to pay for them,” Ade said.
Part of the community, according to him, is a 63-hectare land already sold to people. “But we heard that Kabiyesi wants to acquire the land and move the owners to other places,” he said.
The residents are, however, resisting being relocated to other places because they fear that the new place would expose them to further danger. After all, it belongs to people who are not ready to cede their lands to anyone.
“They threatened us that by next week, they would bring bulldozers and start work in the community, and anybody that puts up any resistance would be taken away,” he added.
As things stand, it would seem that property owners in the Awosun community are in a Catch-22 situation. “We are appealing to Kabiyesi to do something about the situation before it turns into a crisis,” Ade said.
In a statement obtained by our reporter from one of the executive members of the community’s development association, the community-made a passionate appeal for the intervention of Oba Ogunwusi over the planned demolition at Olodo village, Awosun, Ife-Ibadan Road, Ile-Ife, Osun State.
The statement reads: “Recently, the entire Awosun community was taken aback to see some people who came to inspect the community with the plan to construct a dualized road that will lead to their proposed estate site at Olodo village, Awosun.
“The proposed project site is a large expanse of land procured by individuals and groups of people, with some of them already having the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) and official or registered copy of the land survey.
“Kabiyesi, it is worthy of note that not less than sixty-three (63) acres of land and many existing resident houses will be affected by this plan.
“However, it should be on record that the land was bought from the following people:
1. His Royal Highness, Oba Adesina Ogunwusi, Atilade of Fasina, Ile-Ife
2. Barrister Adetunji Olalekan Ijiyode
3. Surveyor Bukola Adeboye Adedire
“Kabiyesi, you are well known as an epitome of love, peace, unity, and progress. In addition, you are a personality of impeccable character and a father figure to the land of Oodua and the Yoruba race.
“We, therefore, passionately appeal that you use your good office to urgently intervene on this matter. Please, sir, rise to defend the vulnerable and common people of Awosun, Ile-Ife.
“Long live Kabiyesi, Eniitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi (Ojaja II), OFR! Baba, ki e pe Lori are awonbaba nla yin o! (long may you live on the throne of your forefathers)”
Ooni’s palace reacts
Efforts to reach the Ooni’s palace proved unsuccessful as the Media Director, Moses Olafare to Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, refused to respond to his phone calls.
Also, he did not respond to text messages put to his phone number for over a week, despite reminders to follow up on both phone calls and texts.
But a source at the Ooni’s palace told our reporter that he had no information about the proposed demolition of peoples’ houses, promising to get back to our reporter
He, however, said Barry White had been invited by the palace.
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