The purported acquisition of a piece of land at Wasinmi community of Ogun State by the Federal Government is causing a rumpus in the community.Sulaimon Olanrewaju reports.The people of Wasinmi community of Abeokuta in Ogun State are currently torn between having a Federal Government project sited in their community and losing their land. But while the people claim they are not really averse to having a Federal Government project in their community, they have a grouse with the way the land was acquired for the project and they are fighting tooth and nail to have the project suspended and the process of negotiation for the land re-initiated because they claim that by taking over their land without their consent, the FG has deprived them of their means of livelihood.To attract the attention of the government, the landowners recently staged a protest in the community. During the protest, they lamented that they were surprised to see some contractors working on their land without any prior notification by the government of its intention to acquire their land. Spokesman of the land owners, Chief Olanrewaju Shoji, told the Nigerian Tribune that the stakeholders had made efforts to ensure that proper things were done, all to no avail.'We don't want to be cheated. We are Nigerians and we don't expect this type of injustice to happen to us. Imagine a situation whereby you just wake up one morning and discover that your farmland, cash crops and other valuable things on your farmland, your source of livelihood, are gone. We just saw some people erecting fence and a signpost with the inscription of Rubicon Aeronautics International Limited working on our farmland," he said.He claimed that investigations carried out by the landowners revealed that those who wanted to take over their land did not consult the state government.According to him, "When we noticed their activities, we went to the Ministry of Land and Housing to make enquiry about the situation but we were told that there was no record about the project with the ministry. We also moved to the House of Assembly and the governor's office and we were told that there was no record of any project of such with the state government, hence we decided to protest to stop the contractor from erecting a fence on the land because if they had succeeded in erecting the fence, it would have been difficult for us to have access to the place.'Nigerian Tribune learnt that the land in question was acquired by the Federal Government for the purpose of constructing a cargo airstrip. The project, according to findings, was facilitated by the former speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole. It was said that some traditional rulers were contacted to provide land for the project, hence, Wasimi community was chosen.Efforts to speak with officials of the contracting firm proved abortive as they refused to make comment, saying they were not empowered to speak with the press.But the landowners have been raising questions on the legality of the acquisition of the land. According to the spokesperson, while they might not disagree with the Federal Government taking over the land for developmental purposes, the government would have done well to carry them along.According to Shoji, 'Nobody told us anything. We were not informed about the plan of the government to take over the land. Nobody even told us what is to be done with the land. Though, we do not say that the government lacks the power to take over the land, but there is a procedure that must be followed.'He raised some posers, 'How did the government know that such land exists there' Who led them to the land' Who are the people they consulted with' When and where was any of the land owners consulted' What is the term of agreement''He added, 'If truly it is a Federal Government project, does the Land Use Act decree empower the government to impound or encroach on individuals' land without due consultation with the property owner''Another concern of the land owners is the silence being maintained by the Ministry of Aviation over the matter. They said despite series of letters sent to the ministries about their worries, the ministry had not deemed it fit to respond to their queries.Shoji said, "We met the contractor handling the project, and he told us that he got the contract directly from the Ministry of Aviation and based on that we wrote the ministry for clarification on how they got the land, but we are yet to get the response from them.'Speaking on how they thought the logjam could be resolved, they said, 'There is a possibility of the Niger Delta saga repeating itself here, where their chiefs were bought over by oil speculators at the expense of the citizenry, which brought about the introduction of militancy led by Asari Dokubo.'We are getting more confused over the matter; hence, we have decided to go to court, for a stay of action on the project until normal process is applied through dialogue with the bona fide owners of the properties, on good compensation for the land owners and good negotiation for our people.These include the number of our indigenes that will be employed per annum and with benefit for the indigenes.
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