For residents of Ajia community, Inukan Local Council Development Area of Oyo State, their joy that government is bringing development to their community seems short-lived as they now live in palpable apprehension of losing their homes amidst fear of alleged harassment . YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE reports that they yearn for the governor’s attention in order to plead their case and proffer solutions that will favour the parties by creating a no victor, no vanquished situation.
On Friday, May 14 at about 1.00pm, Felicia Oladejo, a middle aged woman almost developed health complications as a result of fear at her home in Ajia community in Ibadan, Inukan Local Council Development Area of Oyo State. She was experiencing serious palpitations of the heart just because she noticed strange faces around her home and it took the shout of her daughter that the strangers carried a camera and reassurances from the Nigerian Tribune crew before she could manage to balance her emotions to a manageable level.
What was she scared of? Nigerian Tribune asked. And her answer was simple. “I thought you have come to demolish our house.”
She was however not coherent enough to answer any question as she continued to ask that people beg the governor on their behalf. “Please help us beg Governor Seyi Makinde, not to demolish our house because we have nowhere to go. It is an appeal, we are begging. I only have one room constructed and we are praying that we get the wherewithal to build the remaining part of the house. We built this with Lapo money that we are yet to pay back. Please help us,” she said in tears.
Felicia Oladejo is not alone in this situation, this is the condition many residents of Ajia community have found themselves; they live daily in fear of becoming homeless with nowhere to go with their families.
Since February 16, when the whole community came from their daily businesses to meet revocation and demolition notices on their homes and land, life had ceased to be what it was and many of the residents have become regular in- patients at various hospitals.
Kehinde Usamot is one of those battling health challenges since she saw the notice on her house. In a shaky voice, she told Nigeria Tribune that, “I bought land from the Sooko family, we checked it before we paid and it wasn’t listed as government acquisition but after we have started living here, we suddenly saw notice that we should vacate the land in six weeks. Since then, I have been like this, I fell sick immediately because I borrowed loan to get this land and I am yet to conclude repayment on the loan I used to build the house. Building this house affected me and my children’s education; it will be tragic if I lose the house. Some are still hospitalised, some are dead. The governor should have mercy on us,” Usamot said.
This is the general situation across Ajia community with its thousands of residents. According to history, Ajia has been in the custody of the Sooko family for generations. This was confirmed by the descendants too. Okunola Asimiyu Abdulganiyu, the youth secretary in Ajia and member of the Sooko family said “Ajia is a community my forebears conquered in war, they were originally from Ife but we are the first settlers in Ajia. For generations, the land belonged to Sooko family and we are talking about over 500 years; that Anglican Church at the town centre is over 200 years old and the Central mosque here is as old as the Ojaba Central Mosque.
“Ajia is not a small community and I know about three generations that had passed who are all Sooko descendants; each spent over 100 years of age on earth. Sooko family has been in charge and we heard that, the administration of Governor David Jembewon did land acquisition for government and our fathers ceded 44 acres for this, there is another one acre at the previous primary school, then another two acres for new secondary school. But the land is just lying fallow,” he said.
Reiterating this, Sahidu Oderinde Sooko said “Ajia is my hometown; this is where my father was born.” Many of the people that spoke with Tribune across Ajia town emphasised that they bought their parcels of land from the Sooko family.
The issue
Speaking on the issues, Sahidu Oderinde Sooko said, “We suddenly saw some people pasting notices on houses and farmlands, this is a place that my father used till he died at 130 years of age and he never told me that the land has government acquisition. I am already 70 years old and I have been farming on this land, there was nothing like acquisition until we suddenly saw them putting up notices across the whole community.
“If the government will acquire land, there must be a meeting between government and the owners of the land; this is a land that we have sold to many people who are already residing in their buildings and some are still constructing, it is not just bushes and this is surprising because the governor is from here and if he wants to acquire land, he needs to call us to a meeting.”
His cousin, Oluwayemisi Farinde Sooko added that “the alleged acquisition is a source of sorrow and heartbreak to us because it has devastating consequences on the people of the area especially our family that sold the land to them. We sold these portions of lands a long time ago and some of them have been living here for up to 15 years. This portion that we sold and is being inhabited is not part of government acquisition because there is indeed a 44-hectares, government acquisition and that is where we thought they would take over because we ensured we didn’t touch it but where they now want to take over is fully inhabited with over 300 villages.”
Need for interface
Sahidu Sooko explained that “rather than relate with the owners, we\ learnt that the government is relating with some individuals who claim they are the ones that will get compensation. These people are not from Ajia, we do not know them. How can government relate with strangers on issues pertaining to our land, livelihood and heritage? Majority of the land affected belongs to Sooko family. For the Sooko family, farmlands belonging to 14 family units are affected. We as a family do not believe any government has acquired our land because the government is yet to meet with us to talk about this.
“I want to tell government that rather than destroy peoples’ businesses and homes it should make use of the existing 44 acres under government acquisition in Ajia and if they require more, we will give them more but they should not dislocate people unnecessarily; we have land that is yet to be developed that they can use,” he said.
Landlords-Residents stance
The residents under the aegis of Ajia Community Landlords and Residents Association comprising 12 zones spoke through their general chairman, Odutayo Rafiu Abiodun, who confirmed that the notice for revocation caught them unawares and efforts to dialogue with the governor yielded no results.
“When we got the notice, we marched down to the secretariat to dialogue with the governor but we didn’t see him, we met the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr Abdulraheem Abiodun who told us that we needed to abide by the order and cooperate with government. We went to see the Alajia of Ajia but to our dismay, he told us that he and the elders in council are not aware of the acquisition. The government just threw the community into despair and confusion.
“We wrote three letters to the governor to intimate him of our plight and likely solutions but till now, we have not gotten any response from the governor. But on April 29, we were invited to meet the commissioner who told us that they are maintaining their stance on the revocation and they will compensate us. In his office, we met some people who are not original descendants of Ajia that he claimed he had been talking to; this proved to us that government is talking to outsiders on our behalf.
But after this, the people we met in his office started arresting our members with the police. On this acquisition matter, three people have died and many are sick.”
Also speaking, Agbaje Anthony Akangbe, the former general chairman of the association said “if they say any development is coming to Ajia, they are deceiving themselves because development of Ajia community stopped from February 16. What is responsible for this? Who wants to buy land or build a business in a community where land is being taken over by government. People who have land and building under construction are afraid of going on. People selling building materials do not make sales again because all projects have stopped; even the economy is at a standstill because people no longer come here for business.
“It seems the government just claims to be a friend of the people but is not close to us in anyway because we discovered that all we have been saying since, the governor would have heard and he has not responded making it difficult to determine what he knows and what he doesn’t know. Even people outside Ibadan know about the Ajia issue not to talk about our governor who lives in Ibadan.
“I can attest to the fact that no one has encroached or built on government land among the residents here in Ajia. We just saw government mark lands and houses for revocation. They have divided it into two phases; phase A is over 88 hectares and B is 11.32 hectares. Is government supposed to send us away from our homes and give them to others? Are those people more citizens of this state than the people here?” he asked.
Okunola Asimiyu Abdulganiyu attested to what every other person had said, adding that they were surprised when elders said they don’t know what is going on and “the government is taking over everything Sooko owns in Ajia. If they had consulted the elders, they would have ceded unoccupied lands to them, not the ones already sold to people. The development he is bringing is detrimental to the welfare of the people. We went for a meeting with the Commissioner for Lands but we discovered that by the time we got there, he had concluded deliberations with people that are not stakeholders.
“We raised eyebrows and it almost became an issue and the commissioner said we should go home to settle it. We were however surprised when the commissioner on a programme at NTA said he meets with Ajia people regularly and negotiates with them and we have given out land and they are working out compensation. This is false, how can he say that when we left his office in disagreement? We do not have any agreement with him. We know the governor as a man with milk of human kindness but it is beginning to look like that has changed, so we appeal to him to do it right,” he said.
Residents lament
Olasunkanmi Sulaimon said the whole Ooreofeolorun zone, Oketo, with over 300 buildings is affected by the acquisition, adding that “since the revocation notice, nothing has been working in Ajia community; even the security architecture has been affected. The community is now a shadow of itself. We do not despise development but the truth is that with this action, they have created a system whereby people who toiled for the development of our community will not benefit. They are simply trying to send us out for other people to take over our land. It is even more unfortunate that government is not even talking to us but to some other people who are not real stakeholders in this issue.
“I was one of those arrested on trumped up allegations of threat to life and detained for no reason. We are being made to suffer because we insist that if government wants to be sincere, it should talk to landowners and not a kangaroo forum that has no stake that is claiming to talk on behalf of the people,” he said.
Yeyeosun Opeyemi Osunubi from Moto family in Ajia told Nigerian Tribune that “It is like they want to send Sooko family into extinction in Ajia. What is happening in this area since February is terrible, commercial activities have crumbled, we move about in fear because the men are being arrested and intimidated for standing their ground that strangers cannot speak for them.
“Since February, this community has ceased to be the thriving community it used to be. The governor has neglected us and has not acted like he hears our cries.”
On her part, Sadiat Mustapha said “why did the land we checked at the ministry before buying suddenly became government land? This is a pathetic and heartrending situation because in spite of efforts to get the governor, he has ignored us and it is sad that he has turned a deaf ear to the cries of the people here. This also affects my children; I was the one who told all of them to buy lands because the governor said he wanted to develop Ajia and people should come and buy land.
“I called them to buy land to be part of the development of their village. Now, my children and I are losing everything. The development he said he brought, that is the road, which gave us joy is now like a Greek gift and a thorn in our side. So they gave us road to send us away and give it to others after we endured here when it was nothing,” she lamented.
Demands
Across the 12 zones in Ajia community, the people were united in what they wanted. The general chairman, Odutayo Abiodun, speaking on behalf of the community said, “we don’t want compensation that is definitely going to the wrong hands, we are not kicking against development in Ajia, what we are saying is that government cannot ignore us while attempting to take our land. They should talk to us.”
The former general chairman, Agbaje Anthony said “we appeal to government to use the 44 acres that had been acquired by government since 1974; Oyo government should sheathe its sword and leave our houses for people to live in peace again.”
For Okunola Abdulganiyu, it is about heritage. “We are not ready to cede that place because those points have ancestral importance to us, they are key to our heritage and history as a people. Even the descendants can’t sell those areas. The governor should meet with us, when the governor promised us development, he told us to buy land, why is he now taking over the land he told us to buy,” he said.
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