SEVENTEEN farmers have been arrested for felling economic trees at Basiru Village, J4 Forest Reserve by a Special Task Force set up by the Ogun State Ministry of Forestry.
This was disclosed by the commissioner, Chief Kolawole Lawal, in a statement made available to Metro.
Lawal noted that the farmers refused to adhere to the rules guiding activities in the forest reserves by destroying the trees and replacing them with cocoa.
He attributed the success recorded in ridding the forest reserves of illegal activities to government’s effort towards protecting and developing the state resources through proper monitoring and mapped-out strategies.
According to the commissioner, “the arrest of the 17 people was the result of our recent efforts to curb illegality in our forest reserves across the state. We received a report that some people had illegally stormed the state reserve from a neighbouring state, destroyed trees and replaced them with cocoa. To ensure their arrest, we drafted special task force to comb the area and 17 of them were caught.”
He condemned the involvement of some community leaders (Baales) who were accused of allocating government land after collecting money from the people at the detriment of the state, noting that those caught had been handed over to the police in Ijebu-Ode for prosecution in accordance with the state forestry law.
In his remarks, the Special Assistant to the Governor on Forestry, Honourable Bisi Shoyoye, who led the special task force to the village, said over 25 people were met planting cocoa in the forest reserve.
He stated further that 17 of them were arrested, while others fled at the sight of the state officials.
He added that those arrested had confessed that the Baale of Basiru village assured them that he was in charge of the village and allocated the farm land to each of them after they had paid huge amount of money.
and then