Twenty-Three communities in the Ilorin South local government area of Kwara state have rejected plans by the state government to acquire their lands for the Smart City project.
The communities under the aegis of Akanbi Ward 1 and 2 had claimed that they received a letter dated March 1st this year notifying them of its intention to revoke/acquire the land for public use.
Chairman of Akanbi Ward 1 and 2, Azeez Omolola told our correspondent in Fufu, headquarters of the council, that “the people of the 23 villages at home and abroad are expressing and registering our bitter feeling, sadness and deep sorrow over the plan by the state government to acquire/revoke our land being used for Farming for the establishment of Ilorin Smart City project when hunger is ravaging the people.”
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Omolola declared the planned revocation/acquisition of “our land would mean sacking our people from their farmlands thus leading to acute and perpetual hunger.”
He suggested to the state government to “suspend immediately all plans to forcibly revoke/acquire our land for private use under the guise of public interest; constitute a panel of inquiry to look into what had led to the decision that completely left us in a matter that borders on our lives; examine all alternative ways that avoid destruction and grabbing of all our communities ancestral land, forests, and farmlands.”