By KUNLE AKINRINADE

Residents of some communities in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Are of Ogun State are grappling with the menace of land grabbers popularly called Omo Onile.

The invaders, armed with all manner of deadly weapons, have frightened many of the hapless residents away from their homes and caused them to seek refuge outside their domains.

On account of the activities of the hoodlums, the Ogun State House of Assembly had passed the anti-land grabbing bill in November 2016 and the bill was signed into law by the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, stipulating 25 years jail term or death sentence for anyone found guilty of forcible land grabbing.

While signing the bill into law, Amosun had said: “We want to let people know that Ogun State will not be a comfort zone for any criminal or so-called omo onile.

“They have engaged in maiming, killing and lawlessness, but now the law will go after them.

“We are now having an enabling law to prosecute, and anybody that runs afoul of this law will have himself or herself to blame.”

While the enactment of the law initially had initially reduced the incident of land grabbing in different parts of the state, especially the Ado-Odo/Ota axis, however, the last few months have witnessed a resurgence of land grabbing activities in the local government area and other parts of the state.

Armed with guns, machetes and other dangerous weapons, hoodlums believed to be acting on the directives of a suspected land grabber invaded Jegede village in Igbesa area of the local government on October 25, 2021, inflicting varying degrees of injuries on residents in broad daylight.

Not a few residents scampered into safety and deserted their homes as the rampaging hoodlums unleashed terror on the community.

Six persons, namely Sunday Okorie, Shoneye Akeem, Lekan Oloyede, Jimoh Musibau, Akande Oyedeji and Hamzat Idiris, sustained gunshot wounds during the attack and had to be rushed to the hospital.

It took the intervention of men of the Agbara Police Division, who responded to a distress call from the villagers, to chase the hoodlums away from the community.

The story was the same in Idiagbon village where armed land grabbers disrupted the peace of the community on November 8, 2021.

More than 50 hoodlums who rode on motorbikes were said to have invaded the community at about 8 pm, shooting sporadically to prevent the villagers from coming out of their homes.

Scores of villagers were said to have been injured while running for dear lives while others sustained gunshot wounds before the hoodlums bolted on sighting policemen from the Onipanu Divisional Headquarters, who were invited by the hapless villagers.

Sources said the land grabbers attacked the community in order to annex a landed property that a family recently secured a court judgment on as the rightful owner.

”The hoodlums were hired by a family which lost the ownership of a parcel of land to another family in the court.

”They resorted to violence in order to prevent the other family that has legal ownership from taking possession of the landed property as directed by the court,” a source said.

Other communities under siege

Suspected land grabbers have also made life a nightmare for residents of other communities in Atan area of Ado-Odo/Ota in recent times. On Tuesday, November 22, 2021, hoodlums suspected to be land grabbers were said to have terrorised NAHCO, Onibuku and Baba Ode communities along Idiroko Road, forcing traders, business owners and parents to flee and take their children from school into safety.

Although no death was recorded, sources told our correspondent that guns were freely used by the hoodlums who also wielded machetes, causing fear among residents.

A resident, who craved anonymity for fear of attack, said: “Many people were wounded while they were running away from possible stray bullets. A woman who tried to rescue her daughter fell and ended up with a broken leg while she was running away from her residence.”

Villagers in Ajibawo, Oke-Ore and other communities on the Idiroko axis have also been visited with hell unleashed by hoodlums linked to a notorious land grabber recently arrested by the police in connection with violent attacks on communities in the area.

The Nation learnt that the land grabbers claimed they were enforcing a court judgment that gave them control of the land.

Villagers flee over attacks

A community leader, Chief Tajudeen Aro, said the hoodlums were hired by different factions of one family laying claims to the parcel of land.

He said: “The land grabbers are working for different factions of a family contesting for the right to the parcels of land. The thugs usually loiter around the communities every day, swooping on anyone sighted on their land.

“The situation got to a head penultimate Tuesday when some persons from the real owners of the land were sighted on the lands, aided by some hoodlums. A fight broke out and the hoodlums shut down the villages around the parcels of land.

”Gunshots boomed for hours while machetes were also used during the imbroglio. We all ran for our lives as the hoodlums stopped those that were working on their land and engaged another faction in an affray.

“As I speak with you, many villagers who fled in the wake of the attack are yet to return to the villages for fear of being caught in reprisals they feel could come anytime soon. “

Another resident identified simply as Omowale said his wife and children have since relocated to Owode, another Ogun community, for protection.

He disclosed that the land grabbers initially gathered around Oju Alale and Baba-Ode before spreading out to the communities to attack people.

“The onslaught was unprecedented such that so many families moved out of their homes in Onibuku and others following the attacks by the menacing land grabbers.

”My wife and children who ran to Owode have vowed not to return until after the Yuletide.”

Arrests

A number of suspected land grabbers have been arrested by the operatives of Ogun State Police Command in the last two months, following the resurgence of land grabbing activities.

According to a release issued by the police spokesman, Mr. Abimbola Oyeyemi, three suspected land grabbers were arrested on October 25, 2021 by men of the Ogun State Police Command while invading Jegede village in Igbesa area with dangerous weapons, with which they inflicted varying degrees of injuries on members of the community.

Oyeyemi said the suspects, Adewale Muyibi, Kamoru Ayodele and Taofeek Ogundele, were arrested following a distress call received by men of the Agbara Division that armed hoodlums had invaded Jegede village and were shooting sporadically.

“Upon the distress call, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Agbara Division, SP Saleh Dahiru, led his men to the scene where six men, namely Sunday Okorie, Shoneye Akeem, Lakan Oloyede, Jimoh Musibau, Akande Oyedeji and Hamzat Idiris, who have been shot by the hoodlums, were rescued and taken to the hospital, while three amongst the hoodlums were apprehended and others escaped.

“Recovered from them are six live cartridges and 14 expended cartridges.”

In another statement, Oyeyemi also disclosed that two members of a land-grabbing syndicate were arrested on November 8 during an attack on Idiagbon village.

According to the police spokesman, the suspects ”Olaolu Fashina (m’ 58yrs) and Akinshola Oluwasanmi (m’ 46) were on Monday 8th of November 2021 arrested by men of the Ogun State Police Command, when they invaded Idiagbon community in Ado-Odo/Ota local government area of the state with offensive weapons.

“The suspects were arrested following a distress call received by the police in Onipanu-Ota divisional headquarters at about 8 p.m. that the village was under attack by men suspected to be land grabbers, numbering about 60 and armed with dangerous weapons.

“On sighting the policemen, the hoodlums who came with many motorcycles started shooting sporadically in order to escape from the scene, but the policemen pursued them and with the assistance of the people of the community, two among them were apprehended.”

Residents cry out for protection

A cross section of residents of the affected communities have urged the police and state government to ensure proactive surveillance and protection of lives and property, noting that the hoodlums can strike at any time.

A resident, Tiamiyu Gbeleyi, appealed for adequate police presence around the affected communities to save the villagers from being attacked or killed by the land grabbers.

According to him, the hoodlums usually mill around and sometimes converge at their base nearby from where they move to carry out an onslaught on innocent residents and property owners.

“We are helpless here. A number of innocent residents have been killed in the recent past by the hoodlums over supremacy battle and control of some landed property.

“A number of times, people dare not come outside or open their business centres or shop for fear of becoming victims of the land grabbers; and we even would not allow our children go to school in order not to be caught unawares when these fiendish land grabbers strike.

”We can no longer bear the situation or allow this situation to persist, hence, we are calling on the state government and police authorities to initiate adequate surveillance and patrol and flush out these hoodlums once and for all.”

Another resident, Rukayat Lawal, lamented that business operators have lost so much to the resurgence of mayhem by land grabbers. She noted that police response was a bit slow, leaving the villagers at the mercy of the hoodlums.

”Many of us who are business operators or shop owners have incurred financial losses because we cannot open our shops or outlets whenever the land speculators strike.

‘’Our lives are not safe and we are using this opportunity to appeal to the state police command to put in place sufficient measures to contain these mindless attacks by land grabbers.”

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