PDP condemns Akeredolu for alleged plan to sell 50,000-hectare farmlands to Chinese investors

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Ondo State, on Thursday, condemned the plan of the state government to take over about 50,000 hectares of land in Ofosu forest reserve in Idanre Local Government Area of the state.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the party’s Director, Media and Publicity, Leye Igbabo, who described the action of the state government as an attempt to encourage famine in the land.

The party also described the move as dangerous to the farmers in the local government

The statement reads in parts: “It has become necessary to alert the world about the dangerous attempt by the Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led APC Government in Ondo State, to violently seize 50,000 hectares of farmland from Idanre people in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo State and cede it to private companies at the detriment of the agrarian community. The implications are indeed very grievous.

“From the available records, we verily believe that the said area was constituted as a Forest Reserve for the joint use and benefit of Government and the native communities owning the land and therefore hold that if there was any step or move to be taken by the government on how the said area is to be put to use, it must duly carry along the community.

“We are aware that sometimes in the year 2018, the community through its Traditional Council, did a letter to Ondo State Government under the leadership of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu demanding the release of a certain portion of the Forest Reserve to the community for farming purposes due to ever-increasing agricultural needs of the people to which the Government acceded. And the community keeps on growing by the day.

“We hold, therefore, that the reason that government refused to carry the people along was due to the primordial interest of the operators of government, particularly, the Governor and his immediate family who have a penchant for property acquisition and have, ipso facto, been taking over any unutilised government land in Ondo State through their cronies.

“We view that the latest action of the government is capable of brewing avoidable crisis which is being precluded by the peaceful protest organised by Idanre people, warning the government against tampering with, or snatching their means of livelihood under any disguise.

“The APC Government should know that any attempt to take away the means of survival of a people will be resisted, especially when its government at all levels, including the one being operated in Ondo State, have inflicted more than enough, multi-faceted injuries on the people.

“This latest injury is one too many and copiously demonstrates crass insensitivity of the APC-led government to the yearnings and well-being of the people it purports to serve.

“This is not only hypocritical, but it is also cynical and farcical and its end result, maybe more tragic than ever imagined.

“We are imploring the operators of government in Ondo State, particularly the governor and his immediate family to control their appetite for property acquisition and therefore desist from acquiring and converting government properties in their custody for their personal aggrandisement as everything in life is vanity upon vanity.

“We hereby advise the APC-led government to put a human face in governance, and for once, hold the people as worthy partners in governance, and treat them with dignity just as they remain the custodian of the mandate entrusted in their hands.”

However, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Agriculture and Agribusiness, Mr Akin Olotu, said there was no plan to displace the farmers from the government reserves but to integrate them for better yields and improved income.

Olotu explained that there was no plan to sell the farmlands to any Chinese Company saying the allegation was not only untrue but unfounded

He described the development at Ofosu forest reserve as a mix-up which would properly be addressed at an appropriate time.

Olotu disclosed that the state government has designed a programme to bring farmers of same produce together as a cluster like how it is being practiced in developed countries.

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