EVICTION NIGHTMARES: In Oyo, residents battle government over controversial land acquisitions

BY GABRIEL OGUNJOBI

Pregnant Foluke Akande rushed out of her sparsely-furnished six-room bungalow on March 15, 2021, to the state secretariat, an hour’s drive from home. She joined many other landowners of Ajia town in Oyo state to confirm what turned out to be a nightmare. Their homes have been marked for demolition.

The state government had earmarked the land for developmental projects but the property owners knew nothing about the plans.

Abdulraheem Abiodun, a former commissioner for lands, housing and urban development, tried to allay their fears, but no amount of words could dissolve Akande’s apprehension. She worried so much about her condition that she fainted and was hospitalised for weeks.

As controversy rocking the acquisition of hectares of land at Ajia in Ona-Ara LGA escalated, a similar uproar was playing out at several communities within Akinyele LGA that hosts the train station of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

A total of 1,599 hectares of land at Ajia and 1,500 at Akinyele are about to be forcefully taken by the state government currently led by Seyi Makinde, the governor. None of the property owners have been compensated, making the people suspect the state might be up to some shady intentions.

At Ajia, the governor’s ancestral town, the government initially claimed that the acquired lands would be used to build an ultra-modern ICT centre, Nigerian Air Force base, and expand primary and secondary school facilities within the community. Findings, however, showed that the government has not been transparent with these proposals

In 1978, the community said it gave the old Oyo government 44 hectares of land. A small portion of the land has since been occupied by the community primary school, the rest remained unoccupied until the government came for it.

At the one-year commemoration of the demise of Theophilus Akinyele, a prominent indigene of Ajia and a former head of the civil service in Oyo state, in November 2021, the governor insisted that his administration was proposing the developmental projects only within the government’s old acquisition. It was also at the event that the protesting residents said they learned about the intended projects.

Makinde reportedly presented the project in a way that many people could not disagree with. But people found out later that their governor was economical with the truth.

The beacons showing where the Air Force base would be situated fall outside the land size originally earmarked for the construction. The new allocation extends beyond the 44 hectares old acquisition.

In fact, the NAF base construction would start right behind the primary school. Also, the ICT center will replace another public primary school in the community. The governor was said to have justified his action on the basis that the acquisition was not new, and promised to compensate owners. But the affected landowners have questioned the government’s sincerity of purpose.

Samod Asimiyu, one of the affected landowners, wondered if the government can revoke land titles that were never given in the first place. Like the others, he believed the governor was being dishonest.

The people of Akinyele also have no trust in the governor. In their own case, the government moved to acquire an additional 1,500 hectares of land within the corridor of Nigerian Railway Corporation’s train station, alongside 300 hectares that the Nigerian Shippers Council has taken over since 2017. Signposts announcing the government project suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the 31 villages of the LGA. Community stakeholders said the arrangement was abrupt. Samuel Olaleye, the chairman of the landlord association said “no member of the communities was consulted, let alone reached any agreement with the government”.

KIND GESTURE TO AIR FORCE, ANGUISH TO COMMUNITY

Akande believed that the government could not pay her enough to build another house.

“When we built this house, I was still making money with the work I was doing at a sawmill. Now, the realities have changed,” she said. Like Akande, hundreds of residents in the governor’s town hold weekly meetings, hoping the government would change its mind someday.

Each time they meet, they contribute money for a radio jingle, appealing to the government to reverse its decision. Yet, with every passing day, their fear of eviction continues to grow. Some have died of medical predicaments worsened by tensions of losing their properties, says Olaide Asimiyu, one of the frontline members of the affected community.

A membership register of over 400 concerned persons in Ajia wrote multiple letters, held meetings and press conferences to draw the attention of the governor to the looming injustice, but their efforts were ignored.

“We wanted him to talk to us directly and explain why our lands should be taken and the plans he has for compensation,” Asimiyu said. “We only hear about his proposed development for us through radio and television programmes.”

Abiodun Osuntoki, a community member, seated in his wife’s shop on a Friday morning, said he is careful not to speak of the governor in strong terms. “When my wife first heard about this, she cried for days. You see, when the governor wants to take over a place, there is nothing we can do about it,” he said.

On July 29, aggrieved members of the community wrote another letter to the Nigerian Airforce, complaining about the state’s plan to allocate their lands to the military without compensation. The Air Force’s response opened the lid on hectares of land given to the military arm.

“I am to further inform you that the 58 hectares of land were duly and officially allocated to the Nigerian Air Force by the Oyo state government for the location of our base in Ibadan,” the letter partly read.

“It is our sincere hope that the issues you raised would be amicably resolved before we commence any work on the land so as to ensure peaceful co-existence with the host community in order to further enhance the security of lives and properties in the area.”

The day Makinde commissioned the construction of the NAF base at Ajia coincided with the funeral of a community member suspected to have died in connection with the pressure of losing his land to the state. The people protested at the commissioning site but were restrained by gun-toting soldiers.

During the occasion, the governor donated N500 million for the construction of the military base whereas community residents have not been paid a dime as compensation.

AKINYELE: THE FEAR OF EXTINCTION

In 2021, a part of Akinyele LGA assumed a new look, beautiful and enticing for entrepreneurs, essentially a delight for all and sundry within Nigeria. A 157-kilometre railway line from Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, to Ibadan, the capital of Oyo, which was flagged off in March 2017, is now hosting its Ibadan final destination at Obafemi Awolowo train station in Moniya.

But this fancy story merely managed to subdue a symphony of agitations from many indigenous residents of Moniya and 30 other communities within Akinyele, which serves as the exit of Nigeria’s south-west inward Kwara, Kogi, and other states.

Around August, billboards signalling ‘Ilu Tuntun’ (New City) littered at least six hotspots of Akinyele, including the entry of the train station and a stretch of forested areas of the community.

With the help of allies in the ministry of works, the residents received substantial evidence that gave an in-depth idea of what the Seyi Makinde-government intended beyond the superficial sketch on the signpost. If the government succeeds, over 50,000 people in 31 communities will be sacked from their homes.

“What does the state government want to do with a whole 1,700 hectares added to an old acquisition unutilised?” Samuel Olaleye, the central chairman of the Residents and Landlord Association of Lapite/Olorisaoko community and environs, asked, doubting if the government will ever be able to pay the compensation. The state government said it intends to build a housing estate but the people insist “the idea is malicious”.

“We are used to lies like this. Since I was young, lands have always been acquired in Akinyele and all the tribulations that come with them are becoming unbearable,” says Kazeem Olajide, an indigene of Balogun, one of the affected towns under Akinyele.

“Past governments have taken lands from our communities without translating to spectacular developments for our people,” Olajide said.

As their protests went top gear, so was propaganda infiltrating the media about a purported compensation for the land acquired. In mid-August, the Nigerian Shippers Council acknowledged that the state government had paid N43.2 billion to the owners of 90 hectares of land proposed for the dry inland port in Akinyele.

This news should signal the start of the federal dryland ports, but the community quickly refuted claims on compensation, printing banners, and issuing press statements.

In spite of the widespread rumours, the people of Akinyele community have reasons to believe the governor is up to mischief. Added to an unresolved 300 hectares of land taken by the past government of Abiola Ajimobi, the current government ending its first term in May 2022 says it is taking a fresh 1,700 hectares, without any prior consultations.

It was on glittering billboards or signposts erected around their community that they first saw what the government calls “Ilu Tuntun” (new settlement), an appendix for the central business district in the neighbourhood of Nigeria Railway Station in Ibadan.

The old 300 hectares were to be shared between Nigeria Shipper’s Council and the state government. The remaining 1,700 — still controversial — is strictly what Makinde’s government is plotting to acquire. A total of 2,000 hectares is now in both the federal and state governments’ eyes and nothing is being paid, no development yet to actualise high dreams.

When Olaleye asked traditional chiefs about the government’s claim in newspapers that his people had purportedly collected compensation for the old acquired 300 hectares of land, the chiefs swore that the news was fake. No one collected a dime, till today. To clear the air about any form of compensation, they held a press conference and imprinted banners — this was motivated by Olaleye’s challenge.

Whether or not NSC paid the state N43 billion to begin the dry inland seaport, cannot be independently verified. However, all the landowners seem to be waiting in vain for compensation as they have done since 2020.

In a letter addressed to the governor, the affected communities in Akinyele expressed their fear of extinction saying: “It is our plea that the Oyo state government exercises its power of compulsory land acquisition in other places outside Akinyele local government so our community doesn’t go into extinction, and also compensate the various communities that their lands had already been  acquired by the Oyo state government.”

‘OUR LANDS ARE NOT FOR GOVERNMENT CRONIES’

Lands in Akinyele have for long been the delight of successive governments to acquire for proposed projects. These proposals were either diverted or never achieved.

Out of the expanse of land mapped out for Ajorosun Housing Scheme during Kolapo Ishola’s administration, private investors are already purchasing the lands to build estates like Ajorosun Garden City for their commercial gains. Other portions of the land are forest unoccupied.

Due to the 1999 Bodija ethnic conflict between the Hausa cattle traders and the Yoruba marketers, the old Kara market was moved from Bodija to Akinyele, which was more spacious and quite a distance from the warring Bodija non-cattle traders. To a large extent, the market named after the governor at the time, Lam Adesina, has significantly attracted the influx of Hausa and Fulani settlers from Nigeria’s north to Oyo, mostly in Akinyele.

But the living together of the Yoruba indigenous people and Hausa/Fulani has somewhat turned Akinyele into bedlam owing to recurring strife from the ethnic groups. The most recent was the conflict in 2020.

Akinyele residents have also complained about how the land acquisition by the government impacts negatively the security in the community. Four years ago, a nursing mother and her child were killed in a robbery along the Opabunmi village in Akinyele on their way home.

The question people keep asking is: what will the governor do with the massive acres of land Akinyele’s land is not for cronies, a community member who asked for anonymity said, because he was afraid of being attacked for his comment.

Two years into his first term, Makinde dissolved his cabinet, although he re-appointed seven out of the 17 commissioners a few months later. The ministry of lands, housing and urban development was one of those with new commissioners. Segun Olayiwola, a former chairman of Akinyele LGA, was appointed to be in charge of the ministry.

Some community members of Akinyele believe the governor’s deft move was a strategy to soften the heart of the locals, using the appointment of their son as a bargaining chip over the controversial acquisition.

The reporter could not independently verify this claim. However, the pattern appears the same, even in Ajia, where the governor hails from. Ajia has become polarised in spite of the controversy surrounding the government’s attempt to take their lands.

For the first time in the state, Makinde, in June 2022, appointed ace broadcaster and native of Ajia, Amole Olalomi, as the commissioner/board member of a newly-formed Local Government Service Commission.

This appointment, Ridwan Musbau, a landlord at Victory Estate inside Ajia, said is not only “crafty” but “a divide and rule tactic”.

“That’s why some people are fighting hard against this attempted acquisition but some others are going backdoor to cheering him on,” Musbau said.

“What else do you expect when the governor has appointed their son a commissioner?”

GOVERNMENT”S REACTION

Taiwo Adisa, the governor’s chief press secretary, and Segun Olayiwola, the commissioner for lands, housing and urban development, did not answer several calls and text messages sent to them for comments.

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This report was facilitated by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) under its Collaborative Media Engagement for Development, Inclusion and Accountability (CMEDIA) project.