Community Chief Cries Out Over Death Threat From Land Grabbers

Folake Sokoya

The Apena of Igode village in the Ogijo Local Government Area of Ogun State, Chief Oriyomi Solabi, has cried out to the Nigeria Police Force and the general public for protection from land grabbers whom he said placed a death sentence on him and his entire family after allegedly taking over his 10 acres of farmland.

Chief Solabi said he resorted to seeking the intervention of the media after an ordeal which started sometime in 2017 when some members of his family visited him to ask for his approval to bring in land grabbers to invade their village.

He gave the names of those led to his house by Lekan Lamidi in seeking the purported approval to include: Jamiu Salawu, Wasiu Sikiru and Saidi Sikiru.

Others were Wasiu Afolabi, Taju Yusuf (a.k.a poison) and Musibau Ogunyemi.

“They came to me and said they want me to join them to bring in land grabbers to attack the Baale and the village Secretary because they feel they have been cheating them in the sharing of land sales proceeds,” he said.

Solabi said he turned their proposal down and even tried to make them see reasons it was better to dialogue than bring in outsiders to cause mayhem in the village, endorsement of which will be unbecoming of him as a chief.

“I told them that I am the one that will judge such cases of bad conduct and would be judged the way I judge offenders if I soil my reputation,” he had told them.

The group, however, left in anger, according to Solabi, and before long, they had brought in land grabbers led by a man called Eleda and took over the village.

“They chased the Baale and the family members in charge of the family land out of the village,” he said.

Lamidi, who led the group, is the chief hunter in the village and had earlier coordinated how the villagers swore to an oath not to contract land grabbers for fear the mercenaries will take over their land, according to Solabi.

The main reason they contracted the grabbers was because Wasiu had attempted to bring in land grabbers but the Baale and others pleaded with him not to take such a step. He was then placated with three acres of land, even though his father does not have any inheritance from the land, the Chief revealed.

“After raiding the village and successfully sending the Baale and the Chiefs out of the land, they went to make a false report at the Zone 2 Zonal Office (ZIS) in the Ladegboye area of Ikorodu and we were all arrested,” Solabi explained.

He stated further that on getting to ZIS, he was alleged to have been threatening the group with a gun but after the investigation, police found out that he was innocent.

“I was alleged to have been threatening them with gun. I was surprised because I don’t even know how to set a trap, not to mention handling a gun. I insisted on meeting with the person that made such a wicked allegation and they all came and we were presented before the officer in charge of the case. That was when I saw the people behind our arrest and I immediately knew it was all because of land matter.

Chief Solabi said: “I explained to the officer that Wasiu Sikiru and Taju, a.k.a poison, are cultists and that I have reported their activities at Ogijo and they were not only apprehended, but dangerous weapons were recovered from them. After our statements and interview, we were released on bail and a letter of summons was brought to Igode afterwards, but my name was not on the list.

“To my surprise, on September 7, 2017, Lekan and his gang entered my 10-acre farm and uprooted all the fruits I planted. I load nothing less than two pickup vans of farm produce to the Mile 12 market every weekend because I farm to feed my family.

“They did not only destroy my farm produce, they started making attempts to sell my land also. I went to the Ogun State Police Headquarters to report and the perpetrators were invited. The officers invited them twice and it was on the day of their third invitation by the police that Lekan and his crew stormed my house and attacked my family with the aim of killing me for reporting them to the police.

“I was on my way back from showing the officers the way out of the village when I got a call from a neighbor not to come home because my house was under attack. I had to hide in the shrine adjacent to my house to witness how they battered my wife and daughters. They were armed with a gun, cutlass. Axe. They left when one of my daughters fainted and was taken for dead. I called the officers and I was told to go report at Ogijo, which I did. It was the DCO Ogijo that rushed my family to the hospital.

“Police later arrested one of the perpetrators, Saidi Sikiru, because I saw them myself where I hid in the shrine when they invaded my house in an attempt to kill me. The rest quickly went to Alagbon to file another fake report on January 10, 2018.

“I was arrested on my way to my brother’s house and while on our way to Alagbon the next day, Wasiu called the police to bring me to my house. Police said they wanted to search my house and I complied. After searching my house and even the generator house and got nothing incriminating, we set out to leave, that was when one Gbenga called the police back to come and search my generator house again and that was when a bag containing Indian hemp was found.

“I immediately challenged the police that they know that the nylon was just planted there but they wouldn’t listen to me and so I was taken to Alagbon where I spent two days before I was allowed bail.

“I explained all that has been happening to them at Alagbon homicide section but all they could say was that it is a family matter and that I should accept my fate and accept one acre of land instead of my 10 acres that they have forcefully took.”

Chief Solabi’s wife and daughters told our reporter that they were home that fateful day when the attackers, numbering about 20, came and demanded to see and kill Chief Solabi and when the wife protested, they pounced on her and her two daughters, inflicting them with serious injuries that landed them in hospital.

One of the alleged attackers, Sikiru Wasiu, who described chief Solabi as a trouble maker and a mischievous man, explained that the land in question belongs to the family and that it was apportioned in branches.

“Apena is my relative, we are from the same family branch but his problem is greed. The land in total is about nine acres and our branch was given three acres to share. But Apena was already farming on the land and has even encroached into other family branches land and he doesn’t want the land to be shared. Is that not greed?

“Apena has been a thorn in the flesh in the family and that was why the youths became angry with him and put up a fight. Apena and his wife have beaten and injured so many people because of land matter. If Apena sells a plot of land to you, he will place a charm on the same land and request that you give him money for sacrifice before he will remove the charm.

“We took the matter to the police and after interviewing us all, they settled the matter and because Apena pleaded that he needed land to farm, so as to fend for his family, we the other family members agreed to give him an acre from the three apportioned to us, but yet he is not contented,” Wasiu said.

The officer in charge of the case confirmed what Wasiu told our reporter and has also invited the reporter to attend and witness the next meeting with all the parties involved so as to debunk the allegation of partiality by the police.

A friend to Chief Solabi, a retired officer who pleaded anonymity, said he was among the peacemakers that settled the matter for the family and that he was surprised when few days after the settlement, Chief Solabi called to inform him that he was no longer interested in the land because his siblings said he should not fight over the land again.