Farmers in Lagos State under the umbrella of Afero/Itokin-Epe Farmers Association have appealed to Lagos State government and the federal government to deliver them from officers of the Nigerian Army who invaded the land allocated to them by the state government for farming on the excuse that the land belonged to them.
The farmers who staged a protest at the Lagos State House of Assembly appealed to government to quickly come to their aid by allocating another land free from any encumbrances to them and compensate them for their crops which the soldiers have wasted by preventing them from harvesting them, because since they invaded the land none of farmers was permitted to have access to the land.
The chairman of the association, Prince Wale Oyekoya, who spoke on behalf of the association said the land was allocated to them by the administration of Mr. Babatunde Fashola in 2014 when they were displaced from the former land given to them at Afero in Ibeju Lekki by the state government for commercial farming because of the construction of a cargo airport at the place.
He maintained that when they got to Itoikin their new allocation, the initial problem they were facing was the issue of Omo Onile (land grabbers), who he said did invade their farmlands and destroy their crops.
Prince Oyekoya said several letters were written to the state government about their nefarious activities but the state failed to do anything about it.
He maintained that at a time a total sum over N1 million was demanded from them by the state government to get rid of the Omo Onile, adding that shortly after the state government officials vacated the land the omo onile resurfaced again.
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