The displacement of Nigerian Corporate farmers from their farms, which produce crops and animals worth millions of naira daily, has sparked protests from a group comprising farmers from the Diaspora and local Nigerian farmers.
Addressing the press during a demonstration at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Wale Oyekoya, Chairman of Afero/Eluju Mowo/Mutaku commercial farmers, lamented the disruption of their aspirations to contribute to a better Nigeria.
He revealed that they had invested their life savings and foreign capital into Nigerian agriculture with hopes of fostering development.
Oyekoya recounted the harrowing events of December 11, 2023, when their farms were violently invaded and subjected to brutal attacks during the late-season rains around 11:15 am.
This display of violence and destruction shattered their dreams and disrupted their efforts to contribute to the nation’s agricultural sector.
“There was no letter of warning, phone call, Memo demand or indeed any correspondence that the farmers have done anything wrong or even that they should vacate the land. Even a declaration of war generally requires some sort of warning nothing of sort took place.
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“The government is always asking for foreign investors, but who wants to invest in a country where one day you are carrying out your farming activities to prepare for the Christmas and New Year festive sales, with Billions of Naira worth of your life savings, the next day you are running for your life and dodging bullets as if you are in apocalypse IV!
“We sold off our successful companies, investments and houses from all over the world to invest in our country Nigeria, We used the money to finance, fencing, designing farmland, landscaping, commercial fish ponds, piggeries, poultries, rabbitries, cattle ranches, hydroponic and greenhouse farms of different foods and cash crops for exports and local consumptions, snail pens, general abattoirs, etc. and invested sophisticated mechanised agricultural machines, preservative and processing electronic equipment, electricity generating plants, farmhouses, irrigation machinery, only to have it all callously destroyed not by brigands, bandits or Boko Haram but by the same Nigerian government that claims to be seeking foreign investments, claims to be trying to alleviate the food crisis when that could not be further from the truth.”
Oyekoya said they got the land legitimately from the Lagos State Government. As law-abiding citizens, we reported the military invasion to the government in December and in January to the governor and Speaker of the House and nothing has been done we are losing money daily as the military men will not allow us to enter into our farms and their workers and the military men continue looting our properties and crops on a daily basis.
He noted that they have been on the land allocated to them by Lagos State undisturbed for the past ten years peacefully and commercially farming their crops and raising their animal till the military invasion in December 2023.
“We had no idea when we were allocated parcels of land by a Lagos State Government that the land belonged to the military government and who waited patiently for us to set up and operate for over 10 years before sending various soldiers to take up combat positions all over the farmland and alleging the land belongs to the Nigerian Military.
. TheWitness
