Bandits have attacked and destroyed farm settlements within Oluwa Forest Reserve in the Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The attackers purportedly infiltrated the settlement and inflicted damage upon cocoa plantations in the Temidire area.
While speaking to journalists in Akure, the state’s capital, the farmers recounted that the armed individuals had resorted to firing their weapons into the air in order to intimidate and drive them away.
The chairman of the farmers, Abayomi Isinleye, disclosed that one of the intruders was apprehended and subsequently handed over to the Police Area Command in Ore.
Isinleye alleged that the gunmen were acting on behalf of SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, the company to which the state government had allocated their cocoa farm.
According to him, “Despite a court order restraining the Agro-Allied Company from taking over the land until the determination of the suit instituted by the farmers, the firm has continued to clear the plantations.”
He recalled that the existing interim injunction which was granted by Justice Aderemi Adegoroye of Ondo State High Court sitting in Ondo, restrained all respondents in the suit, including SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, to stop bulldozing the farmers’ cocoa plantations.
The chairman explained that the bulldozer operator, when confronted by the farmers and asked for a court ruling, advised them to reach out to the management of SAO Agro-Allied Services before vacating the farmlands.
He mentioned that a few of the farmers had to engage in a physical struggle with the armed intruders, managing to wrestle away two firearms – a pump-action shotgun and an air rifle. Additionally, they succeeded in apprehending one of the armed individuals, subsequently handing him over to the local police station.
One suspect arrested —Police
Meanwhile, upon reaching out to the State Police Command, they affirmed the incident and the apprehension of a suspect.
The spokesperson for the state’s police command, Funmi Odunlami, stated: “The two parties had been invited by the Area Commander in Ore to know the true position of things as investigation is still ongoing on the matter.”