Governor Ayodele Fayose’s airport project is not going down well with the people of Ekiti state who have been displaced from their lands.

Land owners and farmers displaced by the airport project took to the streets in protest yesterday, January 20, over what they called “illegal acquisition of their farmlands and unlawful destruction of economic trees and crops,” The Nation reports.

The farmers, from Igbemo, Igbogun, Aso, Iwajo and Ijan spanning three local governments -Ado, Gbonyin and Irepodun/Ifelodun said the acquisition of their land was “fraudulent, wicked, callous and illegal.”

The protesters had placards with inscriptions such as: “Gov Fayose, please relocate your airport to government forest”; “We all say no to illegal airport project”; “Please leave us alone, Don’t damage our life”; “This land is the major cocoa plantation, Please no trespass”; “Igbogun cries over illegal destruction of our property” and “Iwajo, Aso say no to illegal airport”.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, their leader, Ojo Awe said: “This step is illegal although they may say the land belongs to them but if you want to take over my land you must tell me because my ancestors owned the land before government came.

 “The other area where government also erred was when we heard the rumour that the land might be acquired, we went to court and court papers were duly served.

“When the process was going on, government invited the monarchs of the affected communities and served them papers, indicating that the land had been taken over, despite the pending court action. This is illegal and unacceptable.”

They urged Governor Fayose to stop work on the project because of the suit they had filed in court

They claimed the government did not give them any valid notice before moving to destroy their farms, adding that they didn’t want compensation from the government but the restoration of their land.

“This government wants to defraud us. Nobody was contacted before our land was bulldozed. The government in Ekiti does not respect the rule of law and when officials come to our farms, they steal our cocoa, cocoyam, yam and banana,” Awe said.

According to the protesters, 10 farmers, including three women, have died of shock from the destruction of their farms.

The farmers called on the federal government through the Ministry of Agriculture to save them from being thrown into the labour market.

However, Lanre Ogunsuyi, the commissioner for Information insisted the land belonged to the government and the farmers should channel their grievances to the right quarters rather than protesting.

“We have a tradition of paying compensation and we would do that. But there is no way government would surrender its power to some people. The land belongs to government,” he said.

About three months back, the Ekiti state government commenced works at the proposed airport site at Aso Ayegunle village in Ado local government area.

In October last year, the governor summoned a meeting with the farmers following the tension generated by commencement of work on the site without prior notice and compensation.

Source: Naij