Need to combat free reign of landgrabbers

About two weeks ago, there was a report of some rampaging suspected land grabbers killing a 24-year-old plumber identified simply as Femi and another yet-to-be-identified person in Orile Eegun Kara Nla via Mowe in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State.

It was gathered that the incident happened around 12noon on that gloomy day when the hoodlums invaded the community to enforce a court judgment on some acres of land.

An eyewitness said the hoodlums, upon sighting some labourers who were employed to work on the land, opened fire on them.

While some of the workers were said to have managed to escape in the process, Femi who also attempted to flee the scene got hit by a bullet in the back. Another worker was also shot in the arm.

The eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation said, “Some hoodlums were brought into the community on Thursday. They were seen holding different kinds of weapons as they started to assault people who built houses on some parts of the land and threatened them to vacate the community or make a repayment.

“They came again on Friday and started to shoot indiscriminately to scare people. When they got to where the labourers were working, they fired gunshots at them and a bullet hit Femi in the back as he tried to escape. Another worker was also shot in the arm.”

In a similar situation, residents of Simawa community in Sagamu Local Government area of the state in another report were also said to have cried to Gov Dapo Abiodun over the attempt by some landgrabbers to take over not less than 13 communities with hectares of land measuring 4500.

Speaking on behalf of the  residents of the community during the protest, Hon Tiamiyu Fasasi Odunuga described how some hoodlums with all manner of dangerous weapons had invaded these communities pulling down building and shops, robbing people of their motorcycles and that many residents of the community have had to abandon their farms and homes for fear of being killed.

Land grabbing is the contentious issue of large-scale land acquisitions: the buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and transnational companies, governments, and individuals. To a layman, landgrabbing is no other than criminal act of forcefully taking over the land belonging to another person. It is an age long practice of wickedness that was also recorded in the scripture.

It is recorded in the bible (1Kgs 21 vs 1-16) how King Ahab as encouraged by his wife, Jezebel had to snuff life out of one of his subjects, Naboth, because he wanted so badly his vineyard whereas the Isrealite was not willing to let go what he described as the inheritance of his forefathers.

A week doesn’t go by without media reports of these criminal landgrabbers leaving behind tales of sorrow, tears, and blood. It is disheartening that these scoundrels have been left for too long to continue to disturb the peace of the people while maiming and killing in the process.

More often than not, these hoodlums masquerading as landgrabbers are highly connected to the powers that be. They have the cash to throw around the security agencies to pervert the cause of justice. They have access to all manners of dangerous weapons to carry out their deadly mission and sometimes shielded by some security agents that have sold out to raw cash.

Unfortunately, many of these landgrabbers are like recurring decimal that have severally appeared in reports having to do with landgrabbing fracas in some States in the country.

To many people, landgrabbing is no less a crime than armed robbery. It is a menace and social misnomer that should be fought to a standstill. It is the thought of people out there that than anything else, the government has always treated this issue of landgrabbing with kid gloves and that is why the criminal venture has continued to blossom.

To win the war against these landgrabbers, the government must henceforth ensure that anyone caught must be thoroughly prosecuted and made to pay for his criminality heavily. Government may have to review some of the laws on landgrabbing so that whoever found liable by the court is not just slapped on his wrist but punished heavily for his act of illegality.

It is the expectations of Nigerians that Tinubu’s presidency will beam his searchlight on this criminal act and ensure that these babaric dispositions frontally tackled and curbed to the barest minimum.