The management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State on Wednesday declared that no part of the landmass of the instruction would be ceded or taken over by any individual or group of people.
Describing the attempt by some people to forcefully take over ownership of about 162 hectares of land belonging to the university around Parakin area of Ife as an exercise in futility, OAU maintained that no effort would be spared legally to protect its gazetted land.
It is recalled that some hoodlums acting under the instruction of some unnamed people in Ile-Ife, the host invaded the university land located around Parakin recently, with a view to taking it over.
However, while conducting journalists around the large expanse of land on Wednesday, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of OAU, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, said the university would resist the moves of the suspected land grabbers.
He accused those he described as some dubious individuals of illegally invading the land which was given to OAU by the late Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi when the university was established in the 1960s.
According to Olanrewaju, some individuals who claimed their land was taken for the university when it was established in 1960, had been selling some portions of the land.
He stated “these indigenes were challenged by the university and stopped from further trespassing. But to our surprise, these individuals allegedly invaded the university from the Parakin area and headed for the Opa Dam which is the only source of water to the university community.
“Before the university security operatives could challenge them, the armed hoodlums have poured poisonous chemicals in the dam which killed all the fishes and aquatic animals there.
“The hoodlums would have caused a disaster in the university if the officials had pumped the water to hostels and staff quarter that day.
“We have three newly constructed hostels on this land, none of them could not be put to use because of the series of threats we received from these people and we can not subject our children to physical and spiritual problems.”
Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor of the OAU, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, had petitioned the Commissioner of Police in Osun State, Abiodun Ige, urging the police to arrest the perpetrators of the crime.
The VC, who also copied the Director of Department of State Services (DSS) in Osun State, Mr Brown Ekwoaba implored the security agencies to apprehend and bring to book the suspected hoodlums and their sponsors.
