Communities, business tycoon battle over land

At a meeting in Osogbo with representatives of the communities, home to some 10,000 people, Oyinlola called for restraint while the government was finding a solution to the crisis. The governor said he would soon convoke a meeting to be attended by three representatives from each of the six communities, Obelawo and government officials to […]

At a meeting in Osogbo with representatives of the communities, home to some 10,000 people, Oyinlola called for restraint while the government was finding a solution to the crisis.

The governor said he would soon convoke a meeting to be attended by three representatives from each of the six communities, Obelawo and government officials to find a lasting solution to the dispute.

According to him, the case was a knotty one since there was a subsisting court judgment which upheld Obelawo’s title to the disputed parcel of land.

He however told the people to be ready to compromise if the crisis would be resolved.

Earlier, spokesman of the communities, Chief Bayo Ajeigbe, who said the communities had been living on the land since 1970s, traced the genesis of the crisis to 1982 when Obelawo began demolishing some buildings, citing his ownership of the land.

According to him, following the intervention of the government of the old Oyo State, the demolition stopped only for the crisis to resurge in 2004 when Obelawo built a fence to surround all the buildings on the disputed parcel of land.

He said the government, at a meeting with landlords in the communities in July, gave them a notice to vacate the land, adding that the notice was suspended following their appeal to the Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr. Ayobami Akinsanmi.

He urged Oyinlola to intervene so as not to render the people homeless.