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Coker Farm settlers petition Amosun over land encroachment

By Gbenga Akinfenwa
21 July 2016   |   12:43 am
Residents of Coker Farm Settlement, in Ifo Local Council of Ogun State, who are majorly farmers, have cried out to Governor Ibikunle Amosun to rescue them from the activities of individuals ...
Ibikunle Amosun

Ibikunle Amosun

Residents of Coker Farm Settlement, in Ifo Local Council of Ogun State, who are majorly farmers, have cried out to Governor Ibikunle Amosun to rescue them from the activities of individuals, who are in the habit of selling government land, to forestall the collapse of the farm settlement under his administration.

The occupants of the over 3000-hectare farm settlement, created by the late Premier of the old Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, have been living in fear, due to the invasion and destruction of their plantations, which serves as their source of livelihood, without prior notice, to pave way for construction works.

In a petition by the farmers under the umbrella of Coker Farm Settlers Association, a copy of which was made available to The Guardian, the farmers claimed that in the last one year, one Chief Doja Adewolu, in connivance with some others, have allegedly encroached on the settlement, using the governor’s name to sell several plots of land.

But the accused, Adewolu, denied the allegation.

He told The Guardian on phone that he has held discussions with the state government on the demolition of the houses because it was specially created to be a farm settlement.

“Nobody should build on Coker Farm Settlement. I am not a party to it, if there are buildings there, they should destroy them. If anybody is selling land there, they should be apprehended. I will not sell any government land; anybody that says so should come and produce evidence. They must destroy the houses on the settlement, especially Abule Adegbite and Abule Hassani,” he said.

When the Transition Committee chairman of the council, Dr. Adeola Kiadese, was contacted, he confirmed the development but appealed to the governor to urgently look into the plight of the farmers.

But the Director of Planning, Research & Statistics of the ministry, Fashola, who called on behalf of the commissioner, said as far as the illegal sale of land is concerned, the issue of encroachment has been the order of the day.

“No land was sold to Adewolu. What we did was allocation of land. We have farm settlers there and the state government allocated land to those willing to farm.

“Adewolu was allocated 15-hectares of land. He has been reporting cases of encroachment of the allocated portions. The government has not sold any land to him. What we did was allocation of land for the purpose of Agriculture was made to him for farming. It was expected that on annual basis, they should all pay rent on the land.”

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