Group moves against land grabbing in Edo

The women wing of the Coalition Against Land-grabbing and Deforestation (CALD), on Tuesday, protested the alleged grabbing of their 14,000 hectares of ancestral farmland by Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc. This was contained in press statement entitled “Land-grabbing, environmental and livelihood destruction of the Okpamakhin community of Owan forest zone of Edo State by Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc” signed by its coordinator, Mrs. Joan Obazee and four others, made available to Journalists in Benin City. Mrs. Obazee said the protest became necessary as the activities of the company have made life difficult for them. She said the immediate past governor of the state had after the revocation and refusal of the company to vacate the farmland, made a confirmation press statement that the said land stood revoked and that they should vacate it. The CALD coordinator said the reasons for the revocation were backed with an empowering state forestry laws that the land meant for regeneration was sold to second and third parties and not in the public’s interest. She said over 35 communities with about 4,000 persons which cuts across three local government areas of the state have been grossly affected by the firm’s land-grabbing activities. “The confiscation of our land, the unforetold and irreparable destruction by Okomu Plc has reduced our self worth and everyday living to zero level. “Poverty, hunger, starvation, pains and insufficient farmland is now the order of our once peaceful and self-sustaining communities”, she lamented. She however called on the state governor not to officially commission the same oil firm project, premised on a land already declared illegal by a subsisting revocation order by the executive council, in which he was an integral part, then as a Special Adviser on Economic Matters. Titus Akhigbe, Benin-City