Ogun communities protest land allocated to Chinese investors as bulldozers move in

Residents of Fere and Oniporogun communities in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State staged a peaceful protest on 19 October over the alleged allocation of their ancestral land to Chinese investors, warning that the arrangement could leave hundreds of people homeless.

The protesters said security personnel and bulldozers were deployed to clear portions of the land where houses had already been built, without consulting village heads and chiefs. They appealed to Governor Dapo Abiodun to intervene before more homes are destroyed.

The Baale of Fere, Chief Okesola Alani, said the communities were not opposed to industrial development but insisted that residents' homes and property must not be sacrificed to make way for the proposed investment. He said residents had pooled their own resources to provide amenities, including electricity, on the affected houses, while others spent their life savings buying portions of the land.

"Before any government can allocate, they have to contact the leader of the village, the Baale. None of us was contacted. They just came with police, caterpillars and other equipment and started bulldozing our land," Alani said, adding that the community had been engaging the government since 2017 over the need to extend the village without resolution.

The acting chairman of the Community Development Association for Oniporogun and Fere, Salau Hamid, said more than 300 residents had completed houses or were building on the disputed land. He said residents were willing to co-exist with the investors but wanted the government to identify land for industrial development that does not displace existing communities.

The Baale called on the state government to convene a meeting of traditional rulers, landlords, the CDA and other stakeholders to find an amicable resolution, stressing that industrial development should safeguard the homes and interests of existing residents.