Frustration Arise as Staff, students of Ondo varsity Cry Out over activities of land grabbers

Members of staff and students of the Federal University of Agriculture, Akure, FECA, Ondo State, on Friday cried out and stage protest over the activities of land grabbers within the institution as there are people trespassing on lands belonging to the university.

The protesters moved around armed with placards with various inscriptions from the gate of the institution to the Zone 17 office of the Police Area Command, after which they took their grievances to the Governor’s Office and also to the palace of Deji of Akure, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read, ‘Don’t send FECA into extinction’, ‘Rescue FECA from land grabbers’, ‘FECA land is not for sale’, ‘Federal Government should come to FECA’s aid’, ‘Allow FECA to breathe’.

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The Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of the university, Kayode Sule, said the activities of the land grabbers have been affecting the training of students in various agricultural fields. He described the activities as illegal and called on the Federal Government to intervene in the situation.

Mr Sule noted that the land grabbers, in collaboration with hoodlums, are now destroying the economic trees on the campus.

“As we are speaking now, they are right inside our college, bulldozing the land, destroying economic trees, destroying those things that we use in the training of our students,” he said. 

While noting that the college had reported several cases of land grabbing to appropriate authorities, Mr Sule said there was an urgent need for the college staff and students to raise the alarm before the institution goes into extinction. 

He urged President Bola Tinubu-led government and the Akure community to defend the college land for future opportunities and expansion. 

“There is a particular surveyor identified as Stephen Adebayo who is right there on the premises of the college with his hoodlums destroying tree crops. 

“Honestly, an end must be put to these incessant harassments by land grabbers and by some people in this community who believe that this land is for grabs and that it must be sold off and that this college does not exist,” Mr Sule stated.