***Family of Pa Gabriel Modupe protests Destruction of Farmland
Despite the signing of anti land grabbing law in Ondo State, land grabbers have again invaded Aponmu community in Akure west LCDA in Ondo State.
The invasion by the land grabbers left in it’s wake destruction of farmland, containing food and cash crops worth millions of naira.
The family of Pa Gabriel Modupe in Aponmu said the farmland was bulldozed despite ownership documents.
On Monday, the family staged a protest at the Governor’s Office in Akure, carrying placards with messages such as “Our patience is being exhausted”, “Deji’s men are destroying our heritage and inheritance”, “Please stop them from further destruction of our property, ” and “Governor Aiyedatiwa save our future” among others.
They had earlier protested at the Zone 17 Police Command on Friday.
Speaking on behalf of the family, the Chief Sasere of Aponmu, Mr Modupe Odunayo, accused certain individuals of destroying crops such as cocoa, palm trees, and cashews on their ancestral land.
He said, “It is a rude shock on the 4th of January 2025, two chiefs and unknown persons entered our family land with tractors, destroying both food and cash crops, which include economic trees.
“We have submitted our petition to the office of AIG, Zone 17 detailing how they perpetrated the illegality. The land belongs to my father and all the people we apportioned the land to farm on are all here. We’ve asked the land grabbers to stop their illegality but turn a deaf ear to our demand. When we went there last time, they threatened to kill me with a cutlass.
“We are calling on the state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa to come to our rescue. They know quite well that the land doesn’t belong to them because we have documents backing our ownership of the land. The excuse they’re giving us is that they’re following a directive from the palace of the Deji of Akure.”
Also, the lawyer to the family, Mr Olugbenga Adedugbe, in a petition sent to the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 17, Akure, on behalf of the family called on the police to help in bringing justice to his clients, saying the peace of the community was under threat as land grabbing is a criminal act in Ondo state.
The petition read in part, “Our clients are the direct sons and daughters of Pa Gabriel Modupe, who was the first to found and farm on the said land for over 100 years, wherein he also built houses and allocated portions for persons paying rents for farming purposes only during his lifetime.
“Different persons had occupied part of the said land at different times with the permission of the family after the death of Pa Gabriel Modupe. It was a rude shock on the 4th of January 2025 that some chiefs and unknown persons entered the said land with tractors, destroying both food and cash crops, which include economic trees on our client’s farmlands.
“The chiefs and the unknown persons came in company of unknown persons with guns, cutlass and clubs(with nails) threatening anyone that question their malicious acts of destroying properties on the farmlands an altering the topography of the farmlands.”
Adedugbe noted that none of the suspected land grabbers had any portion of the farmlands because they were not members of the family of Pa Gabriel Modupe
“They had concluded plans to bring more thugs to resist any lawful resistance to the selling of the farmland. The said property is within the family-approved perimeter survey of our client, and our clients can no longer access other parts of the farmlands,” the lawyer stated.
