The 135-year-old village head of Gatta community in Ilorin, Kwara State, AbdulKareem Akanji, and 11 others have instituted a N2.4 billion suit against authorities of the state polytechnic, over alleged encroachment and disregard for court proceedings.
   
The monarch sued among others: the Rector, Dr Jimoh Mohammed, the polytechnic, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), and four others.  Gatta, hosting a farm on which the institution recently harvested over N13 million crops and cereals, opposed the polytechnic and its rector for harvesting on the disputed land.
   
The plaintiffs told The Guardian that a writ of summons and statement of claims in suit number, KWS/238/2024, was filed on May 28, 2024 at an Ilorin High Court.
  
The community, which said the writ was served on the rector and the polytechnic, to which they had filed a reply, and “the case fixed for October this year,” wondered why the defendants still went ahead to allegedly work on the disputed land.
   
The community had alleged among others that NSCDC operatives had been flagrantly used by the polytechnic to harass, assault and intimidate the villagers since the dispute began in March this year.
   
The 11 claimants are demanding N220 million individually from each defendant for alleged trespass and other claims. Dr Mohammed, during the harvesting, reportedly described the farm as a N13-million maize and cassava project, saying he had turned mirage to reality. He was quoted as stating: “The institution’s land encroachment challenge has now been turned to blessing.”
   
Mohammed told journalists at a briefing and harvesting of an earlier 20-acre farm of maize and cassava that the occasion marked the school’s foray into commercial farming.
   
According to him, the intention was to support Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s programme in enhancing food production and assisting the polytechnic community, as well as the public.
  
He said:  “We began by engaging in commercial farming, we deployed this initiative to reduce the vacant land, discourage encroachment, and make food available and affordable to members of the polytechnic community and Kwarans.
  
“Come next rainy season, the management is planning to cultivate another 20 hectares, and we are also considering giving an opportunity to members of the public, who may be interested in leasing a space for farming.”