Reverend Akin Alabi, Oyo Zonal CAN Chairman, speaks with Newslive on the land tussle at Ayetoro Scheme.
NewsLive: Good afternoon sir. May we know you?
CAN chairman: I am Reverend Akin Alabi the Oyo zonal CAN chairman.
NewsLive: Can you tell us what actually led to the CAN protest on Sunday, and make your stand known?
CAN chairman: ” On Sunday 5th of July 2020, the generality of Christians and their ministries under the umbrella of CAN within the four local government in Oyo town decided to stage a peaceful protest against the encroachment of our close to 16 acres of land in Ayetoro Scheme Oyo by the Alaafin of Oyo.
This is a land we acquired legally and righteously from the government of Nigeria around 2007 and we pay our dues on the land when the need arises. We still paid as at last year. Other landowners who also have land therein have been using theirs but because CAN is an organization with predetermined aims, we decided to keep the land until the right cause to use the land surfaces.
Initially, we wanted to use the land for our public grave yard. By 2009, there came a change of focus that we should use the land to build a big event centre.
All in all, we never encountered any issue with the land until last year when we shockingly met the Alaafin of Oyo’s signpost on the land.
Being the father of everyone in Oyo, we made efforts to reach the Kabiyesi then. The outcome of the meeting was that Kabiyesi had no hand in the forceful diminutive attempt. The discussion went well, the issue was resolved amicably and the signpost was put off.
By December 2019, CAN took a decision to use the land to organise a crusade. We asked all temporary occupants of the land to vacate the land and we were planning to host a most reverend from Ghana probably by March before the outbreak of COVID_19 deaden plans.
It surprised us after the Month of March to receive a letter from the Alaafin directing us to vacate the land because the land is theirs.
We pressed our claim through Bishop Ayo Ladigbolu to meet the Alaafin more than twice but with all our readiness and willingness for discussion, we were never allowed to see Baba; His aides do feed us with one excuse or the other.
Lately, we discovered that the land is being unlawfully intruded. We met with our lawyer but before we knew it, we received another letter from the Alaafin that we’ve been gifted the land to mark Alaafin’s fiftieth anniversary on the throne. Even our lawyer also wrote a letter of appreciation to the Alaafin.
Unfortunately, the new development on the land wasn’t encouraging at all. They’ve started notching the land in plots. They manned all the corners of the land with thugs.
So, we spoke to our lawyer and we are ready for court. We decided to stage a peaceful protest beforehand and that was what we did.
We are not selling our land. We own the land and we want to use it for a specific sacred purpose, we have all our papers.
The land is not a traditional gift or ancestral property.
Oyo is a peaceful town. CAN is a religious organization that wants nothing but peace. We are imploring Alaafin to please let us own our land in peace so that the town will breathe in peace.
Anyone who claims to have bought part of the encroached land(close to half of the land) from them should please be refunded.
If Kabiyesi is ready to sit with us, we are also ready to dialogue amicably. We will also want to settle the matter out of court. But we won’t back down if they don’t cease this supposed organizational infringement”.
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