About 1000 suspected land grabbers with dangerous weapons attacked Ifelodun community in Olorunsogo, Ifo local government area of Ogun state.
It was reported that it took the intervention of the community youths who whisked away the royal father of the town, Olu of Sunren, Olorunsogo, Oba Samuel Olukayode Sodimu, from being killed.
Acording to one of the youths, the assailants claimed that they were the rightful owners of the land from Ibaragun, Papalanto, Ofada, and Iro to Olorunsogo which is about 30 kilometres road.
Meanwhile, The Olu Sunren, Oba Sodimu explained that the crisis started in November 2020.
“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, has however, denied knowledge of any attack on the community.
Oyeyemi said the police was unaware of any attack by land grabbers on the residents of the community.
“To the best of my knowledge, the Kabiyesi called me truly, but after investigation, we discovered that it was the court Balif 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 explained.
When the kaabiyesi was later contacted after police response, the monarch said those that invaded the community were not ballif and police, they are armed assassins shooting sporadically with intention to kill anyone that comes their way.
The monarch therefore, urged 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.
