Farmers in Ondo State have staged a protest against what they described as government-backed land grabbing and destruction of their cocoa farms in the Oluwa Forest Reserve (OA3A), Odigbo Local Government Area.
The aggrieved farmers, who blocked the Ore/Lagos Expressway and carried placards with inscriptions such as “Akinsola Must Go,” “Sotinrin Must Go,” “Save Our Cocoa Farms,” and “Aiyedatiwa Save Our Means of Livelihood,” alleged that their crops were bulldozed despite paying millions in dues to the state government and holding legal farming rights.
They called for the immediate sack of the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa on Agriculture and Agribusiness, Rotimi Akinsola, and demanded the resignation of the Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BoA), Mr. Ayo Sotinrin.
“SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, a private company owned by Sotinrin, has been bulldozing our crops and seizing portions of land we have farmed for years, despite an injunction from the Ondo State High Court ordering both the state government and SAO Agro to refrain from any demolition or eviction activities,” the farmers claimed.
They also said: “We are tenants of the government, not illegal occupants. We pay millions to the state every year for the right to farm here. Yet, SAO Agro, owned by the MD of the Bank of Agriculture, has come with bulldozers and destroyed our cocoa trees, even though there is a court order preventing them from doing so.”
The farmers accused Akinsola of siding with private interests, stating, “he has acted more as ‘SSA to private companies’ than to farmers. We are no longer safe with him for as long as he remains in the saddle because he prioritizes the private firm over us.”
They further accused both officials of abuse of office and warned that their actions, if unchecked, could tarnish the reputation of Governor Aiyedatiwa’s administration.
