As you read this, a 12-month old infant forcefully taken from her mother is yet to be found, dead or alive, several months after she was snapped from the mother, Lateefat Adenekan who recently visited Fowowawo village, near Magbon Etido, in Obafemi Owode Local Government area of Ogun State. She had innocently travelled to see her kinsmen without prior knowledge of land-grabbers invasion of the hitherto peaceful village.
One Sufi Taiwo Ogunleye with the backings of some naval officers he contracted have allegedly continued to unleash terror on the villagers as they extort locals and grab their lands at will, even when there is an existing court judgment against that.
According to the Baale, Chief Waheed Muraino, who himself has been forced on self-exile, the naval officers have refused to vacate Fowowawo while they continued extorting innocent villagers, torturing those who are not ready to comply by their directives. He said some villagers have been maimed as a result of the torture while some others have been extra-judicially killed.
He said: “The kidnap and disappearance of Lateefat Adenekan’s 12-month old baby is not the only evil that the uniformed men and those who brought them to our village have visited on our people. Lateefat’s uncle, Nurudeen Adenakan who confronted them, was not only maimed but was eventually killed.”
Chief Muraino said trouble started in 2015 when the Ogun state high court under Hon. Justice Akinyemi ruled in favour of the Olasile family as the rightful owners of the land making up the Fowowawo village near Magbon Etido against the defendants, the Ogunleye’s family represented by Sufi Taiwo Ogunleye, labi Ogunleye and Ayinde Ogunleye. The case had lingered in court since 2009 before the judgment of 2015, -a six year period.
According to Chief Muraino, “Since that judgment, the Ogunleye Family has not allowed us rest in the village. Sufi Taiwo Ogunleye has not ceased wagging war against the entire villagers. It was during one of the invasions that they kidnapped the 12-months old baby that has not been found till date. That abduction led to the continued torture of one Nurudeen Adenekan by the armed officers with all sorts of chemical which eventually led to his death in November 2020 at the Olabisi Onabanjo University teaching Hospital [Muraino brandished the death certificate]. This is the death certificate issued. Nurudeen was the uncle of the mother whose baby was stolen.
“Since January this year, Sufi Taiwo Ogunleye has continually led some naval officers into the village, starting from the 5th or 6th January 2021. We reported at Elewe-Iran police command but it appears like the police were overwhelmed with the involvement of the naval officers, although they tried their best.
“Later, we approached 174 Battalion in Odogunyan (as the one in charge of Berger to Shagamu) thinking the uniformed men were men of the army, but on coming around, they discovered they were naval men. That was when we petitioned the naval base in Apapa reporting the matter and seeking their intervention but they told us the men were only sent to secure pipelines in Arepo but we all know that Fowawawo is far from Arepo.
“They have seized more than 10-acres of farmland and they keep excavating sand to sell just as they never stopped extorting motorists. All efforts to seek an intervention have not yielded desired result.
“For instance, last month or thereabout, one of our brothers, Michael Sotinoye and three others were arbitrarily arrested at around 12 am led by naval Officer, Albert Abraham as assisted by Taiwo Sufi Ogunleye. The boys spent more than 12 days in their captivity as they were locked inside a container. As I am talking to you, Michael Sotinoye is still at the hospital.
“Albert Abraham led other naval officers and Sufi Ogunleye to forcefully grab about two acres of land from a farmer, Seyi Sodipo who had legally bought the land from the Agbeje family with all documentations intact. The uniformed men invaded the farmland with rifles and caterpillar to take two acres from the five acres he used for farmland. Two weeks after, they returned to take the remaining three acres.
“I as the Baale have not been spared. They are also threatening to deal with me for asking questions and insisting that the court judgment be respected.” Chief Muraino told our correspondent, adding that they have written petitions to the Senate, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministry of Defence, Headquarters of the Nigerian Navy, office of the Chief of Naval Staff, among others, but the actions have yielded little or no result.
Efforts to speak with the Ogun state naval commandant Ofem Ubi, under whose purview Obafemi Owode falls, did not yield a result as he immediately cut the call as soon he was told the caller was a Journalist. For Officer Albert Abraham, he initially rejected the call and ignored a message sent to his phone but later promised to speak with our correspondent later via a text message. Up till the time of filing this report, he has not called back and has not been picking his calls.
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