Farmers accuse Tinubu’s appointee of forcefully grabbing farmlands that are a source of living for many families and households
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Travellers were stranded for hours on the Shagamu-Benin Expressway around Ore on Sunday as farmers in Oluwa Forest, Odigbo Council in Ondo blocked the road in protest against their forceful eviction from their farmlands by an appointee of President Bola Tinubu.
They said the eviction was carried out by SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, allegedly owned by Ayo Sotinrin, whom Tinubu recently appointed Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA).
The protesters alleged the private firm is being aided by Ondo Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s Agriculture and Agri-business Assistant, Wemimo Akinsola.
Their placards had inscriptions such as “Rotimi Wemimo Must Go”, “Ayo Sotinrin Is Using Govt Power On Poor Farmers”, “Rotimi Wemimo Must Go, “Farmers Have Rights To Life”, “Tinubu Save Farmers From Sotinrin”, and “SAO Belongs To Ayo Sotinrin, MD, Bank of Agric”, among others.
The farmers decried the firm for the manner they were evicted from their farmlands.
Musafiu Irewolede, who spoke on behalf of the farmers, described the action as illegal, saying the company claimed it bought the farmlands measuring over 10,000 hectares from the Ondo Government.
“Since 2019, we have been paying N20,000 per rope to farm here, and the truth is that we have been to the court to challenge this act of illegality, and we got an injunction stopping the destruction on the farmlands. But they never desist, as they continue to flout the court order,” Irewolede recounted.
“They [SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited] came with a bulldozer to destroy the farmlands. It was President Bola Tinubu’s appointee, Ayo Sotinrin, who bought the farmlands from the state government, and he is being aided by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s Senior Special Assistant, Rotimi Wemimo Akinsola.”
Irewolede disclosed that the state government has been collecting tax from farmers cultivating crops on the farmlands for over 20 years, and they have been paying multiple levies, such as for rent, security, and identity card, among others.
Another farmer, Felix Adeniyi, stressed that no fewer than 15,000 farmers would be displaced by the eviction from the farmlands that are a source of living for many families and households.
“So, we are calling on Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to remove Mr Rotimi Wemimo, as he is self-serving, an enemy of the farmers in Ondo State and is not serving the interest of the government but that of private investors for his own gains,” Adeniyi said.
“We also demand the immediate resignation of Mr Ayo Sotinrin as the MD of Bank of Agriculture for conflict of interest; we call on President Bola Tinubu to remove him if he refuses to resign.”
Sotinrin denied that SAO Agro-Allied Services is illegally dispossessing farmers of their farmlands in Ondo, explaining that the company has processed the land allocation, paid all necessary fees, and obtained a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
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