Indigenes of Orile-Imo community, an ancient Egba settlement in the Obafemi Owode local government area of Ogun State has appealed to Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun to save their community from going into extinction over activities of the land grabbers.
In a “Save Our Souls” message sent to the state governor, the community, under the aegis of Imo Descendants Association (IDA) accused the former local government chairman, Engr. Akeem Adesina, who is currently the special adviser to the governor on works of conniving with some land speculators to coerce the community to sell their ancestral land to foreigners under the guise of accommodating foreign investors in the state.
At a press conference addressed yesterday at the Centenary Hall in Abeokuta, the state capital, the IDA chairman, Oluwaseyi Abolade Lemo, said the community has been under siege of conspirators that had been oppressing them on the community land.
Lemo accused the governor’s aide of conniving with some officials of the Bureau of Lands and Survey of lying to the community that the entire land had fallen under the government’s acquisition, thereby forcefully grabbing lands and selling them to investors.
The community, however, demanded that Abiodun must investigate his Special Adviser on Works, Adesina over the allegation, stressing that his intervention would save their community from going into extinction.
Reacting to the allegations, however, Adesina described them as “village politics” targeted at the vacant stool and installation of the new traditional ruler of the community.