Tension in Osogbo as soldiers disrupt Court enforcement order, abducts two persons

It was a chaotic scene on Monday morning at Kelebe-Omu area in Osogbo the Osun State capital as men of the Nigerian Army stormed a gathering at the adjudged rightful owners of Kelebe-Omu land, OsunReporters News gathered.

At the secene, the soldiers rough-handled aged fathers, mothers, disabled including minors, seized phones and arrested one often drivers of the bulldozer employed by the landowners and one other person.

The armed soldiers who appeared in their uniforms came with the official vehicle of the Nigerian Army, forcefuly stopped the ongoing clearing and possession of the land, threatening to kill the landowners who gathered in their hundreds to enforce the court judgment.

It should be recalled that the landowners and the Ataoja of Osogboland, Oba Jimoh Oyetunji Olanipekun had called both the State and Federal Government to quickly arbitrate in the land dispute between indigenes of the ancient city and the Nigerian Army.

OsunReporters News had earlier reported that Osun State High Court in Ile-Ife, presided over by Justice A.O. Ayoola, had on 10th of January, 2023, asked the Nigerian Army to vacate the 3,646 acres of land and mandated the Army to pay a sum of N20 million to the land owners for destroying their land.

Reacting to the development, Chief Amodu Akanbi, who is the leader of Kelebe-Omu Landowners, confirmed that two petsons have been arresred. He pleaded to Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, Chief of Army staff and most importantly the President of the nation, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to quickly intervene in this tussle.

Chairman of the landowners, who reiterated that no rightfully owners of Kelebe-Omu land should be subjected to any manner of inhuman treatment from soldiers over their father’s land, also use the medium to called for intervention of stakeholders on this land matter.

Akanbi said, “I plead unto Chief of Army Staff, Mr Lagbaja and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to please critically look into this matter and bail us out from this taste of injustice in the hand of soldiers. Nigerian Army should be ordered to stop working against the court Judgement by vacate from our rightfully land.”

“Court had given verdict in our favour, copy of the judgment is in public domain.

“The Nigeria Army are expected to be a custodian of law, to be the Institution that enforce court judgement but Alas, reverse is the case. Court has given its verdict in our favour yet, Nigeria soldiers are flagrantly working against court judgement”.

“It is our believe, as a good citizen of the country that no one is above the law because the law is above even those that made it.”

“We are now exposing the uninterrupted disobedience of the Nigerian Army to judgment of the court and the rule of law, which is threatening the peace of Osogbo and Osun State st large”.

“We’re also pleading for the urgent intervention of higher authority to order Nigeria Army to vacate our land for peace to reign,” Amodu Akanbi said.

At the time of filing this report, arrested persons were yet to be released.