The Ekiti State Government has vowed to deal with host communities killing workers or harassing officials at any of its farm settlements in the state.

The government regretted the recent killing of a staff member of the Ministry of Agriculture at Orin Farm Settlement in the Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state.

The government posited that whoever perpetrates such an act will face the consequences of their actions, stating that the government won’t allow its food production policy to be thwarted by landowners and desperate grabbers.

The Deputy Governor, Mrs Monisade Afuye, gave the warning in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday while mediating in a protracted land tussle between the Ekiti State Ministry of Agriculture and Olojudo-in-Council.

This intervention followed 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, Afuye frowned on the killing of the staff, who was a tractor operator at the farm settlement, describing it as worrisome and saddening.

The deputy governor 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.

Afuye, however, was upbeat that with the intervention, the confidence of farmers operating within that corridor would be restored, particularly regarding the issue of security of lives and property.

The deputy governor issued a warning that threats to the lives of food producers anywhere in Ekiti will not be taken lightly by Governor Oyebanji’s administration, emphasising that the government will endeavour to restore farmers’ confidence that they can operate anywhere without threats or harassment.

She ordered the Surveyor General of the State, Surveyor Adebayo Faleto, to lead other experts to the scene and accurately demarcate the boundary to prevent unnecessary encroachment that could result in violent 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,” she said.

Mrs Afuye urged Olojudo, Oba Ayorinde Ilori-Faboro, who is the Chairman of the Ekiti State Council of Traditional Rulers, to appeal to the restive youths in Ido Ekiti community to shun violence that can lead to killing on the farmlands.

The Commissioner for Agriculture, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Babatope Ojo, disclosed that the farm settlement was acquired in 1954 by the then Western Region to enhance food production, which was later bequeathed to the Old Ondo State and subsequently the Ekiti State upon creation in 1996.

Boluwade lamented the brutal killing of the government’s staff attached to the Ministry of Agriculture, with autopsy revealing that he was hit with a heavy metal on his head, leading to his abrupt end.

“When we saw danger in the area, we wrote to the family that shared a boundary with the government to appear, so that we could settle whatever differences they had, but they didn’t appear. That forced us to write to the government to intervene in this land matter,” 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 would 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.

The monarch, who appealed for clemency for those being detained and on trial in court, revealed that the farmers who encroached on the government’s lands had realised their mistakes and are ready to retract their steps.

Oba Ilori-Faboro added that his council will write a letter of undertaking on behalf of the family involved to assure the farmers that they are safe to operate in the farm settlement.