July 21, 2022
*PRESS STATEMENT.*
*ONDO PDP CAUTIONS AKEREDOLU ON THE SALE OF 50,000 HECTARES OF IDANRE FOREST RESERVE.*
It has become necessary to alert the world about the dangerous attempt by the Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu-led APC Government in Ondo State, to violently seize 50,000 hectares of farmland from Idanre people in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo State and cede it to private companies at the detriment of the agrarian community. The implications, are indeed very grievous!
From the available records, we verily believe that the said area was constituted as a Forest Reserve for the joint use and benefit of Government and the native communities owning the land and therefore hold that if there was any step or move to be taken by the government on how the said area is to be put to use, it must duly carry along the community.
We are aware that sometimes in the year 2018, the community through its Traditional Council did a letter to Ondo State Government under the leadership of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu demanding the release of certain portion of the Forest Reserve to the community for farming purposes due to ever increasing agricultural needs of the people to which the Government acceded. And the community keeps on growing by the day.
We hold therefore that the reason that government refused to carry the people along was due to the primordial interest of the operators of government, particularly, the Governor and his immediate family who have penchant for property acquisition and have, ipsofacto, been taking over any unutilized government land in Ondo State through their cronies.
We view that the latest action of the government is capable of brewing avoidable crisis which is being preluded by the peaceful protest organised by Idanre people, warning the government against tampering with, or snatching their means of livelihood under any disguise.
The APC Government should know that any attempt to take away the means of survival of a people will be resisted, especially when its government at all levels, including the one being operated in Ondo State, have inflicted more than enough, multi-faceted injuries on the people. This latest injury is one too many and copiously demonstrates crass insensitivity and irresponsiveness of the APC led government to the yearnings and well-being of the people it purports to serve. This is is not only hypocritical, it is also cynical and farcical and its end-result, may be more tragical than ever imagined.
We are imploring the operators of government in Ondo State, particularly the governor and his immediate family to control their appetite for property acquisition and therefore desist from acquiring and converting government properties in their custody for their personal aggrandizement as everything in life is vanity upon vanity.
We hereby advise the APC led government to put human face in governance, and for once, hold the people as worthy partners in governance, and treat them with dignity just as they remain the custodian of the mandate entrusted in their hands.
*Leye Igbabo*
*Director Of Media & Publicity, PDP Ondo State.*