Ekiti State government has warned farm settlements’ host communities against killing or harassing its officials, regretting the recent killing of a staff of the Ministry of Agriculture at Orin Farm Settlement, in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state.
The state government posited that anybody found culpable will not go Scott free and will face the consequences of their action.
The Deputy Governor, Chief (Mrs) Monisade Afuye, handed down the warning in Ado Ekiti while meditating on a protracted land tussle between the Ekiti State Ministry of Agriculture and Olojudo—in-Council, said the government won’t allow its food production policy to be thwarted by land owners and desperate grabbers.
This intervention stemmed from a petition written by the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Ebenezer Boluwade, on the raging situation of the Orin Farm Settlement and the persistent land encroachment that led to the death of a staff member.
Interfacing with stakeholders on the matter, Mrs. Afuye, in a statement signed by her Special Assistant on Media, Victor Ogunje, frowned at the killing of the staff, who was a tractor operator at the farm settlement, describing such as worrisome and saddening.
Afuye said the murder was criminal and flagrantly negated the policy being championed by Governor Biodun Oyebanji to raise the bar of food production in the state.
She was, however, upbeat that the intervention would restore the confidence of farmers operating within that corridor regarding the security of lives and property.
The Deputy Governor sounded a warning that threats to the lives of food producers anywhere in Ekiti won’t be taken lightly by Governor Oyebanji’s administration, saying the government will work hard to restore confidence in farmers that they can operate anywhere without threat or molestation.
She mandated the Surveyor General of the State, Surveyor Adebayo Faleto, to lead other experts to the scene and properly demarcate the boundary to avoid unnecessary encroachment that could lead people into murderous action.
“Our experts are coming to properly demarcate the place. We won’t fold our arms and allow our farmers to be sacred or killed. We have to instil confidence in them. This government has food production as a policy; we won’t allow anyone to derail it.
“On the killing, let justice be served accordingly. Those arrested and being tried should go to court and prove their innocence,” he said.
The Special Adviser on Security to the governor, Brig. General Ebenezer Ogundana said the killing on the farm will be investigated thoroughly, and those responsible for such carnage will be dealt with accordingly.
In his submission, the Olojudo of Ido Ekiti, Oba Ilori-Faboro and a member of the family that shares a boundary with the settlement, Professor Israel Olatunde, regretted the death and promised that such won’t repeat itself in the settlement.
