Hoodlums brutalise octogenarian, wife over dispute on kola nut farm

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Some hoodlums have brutalised an octogenarian, Yekini Owolegbon, and his wife, Ayoni, over a kola nut farm in Ori-Okuta, Isiwu, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

They were rushed to the Ikorodu General Hospital due to the severity of the attack, while the case was reported to policemen at the Sagamu Road division.

It was learnt that a third victim, identified as Yusuf Bamidele, who followed them to the farm, was abducted by the armed thugs.

Our correspondent gathered that 83-year-old Yekini had sold part of his farmland to Bamidele sometime in 2015.

Bamidele was said to have visited the purchased portion of the farmland on Monday, August 29, 2016, when he met a group of surveyors working in the area.

He reportedly left the place and reported to Yekini, who together with his wife, went to the land to challenge the trespassers.

Yekini told PUNCH Metro that they were attacked by thugs invited by the trespassers.

He said, “I am a farmer and I have my farm in that place, where I plant kola nuts. The man approached me in 2015 and I sold part of the land to him.

“After a year, he told me he would be going to inspect the place. A few hours later, he returned and said he met some surveyors on the land and they said he had no right to the place.

“Around 4pm, I went with him, together with my wife. I discovered they had harvested my kola nuts and destroyed my plants. When the people saw me, they asked me to leave the place because they did not see me as the owner of the land. One of them made a call and some hoodlums, armed with guns and cutlasses, arrived at the place on motorcycles.

“They tied me down and beat me up. My wife suffered more; they beat her mercilessly. They said the law Ambode (Lagos State Governor) made against land grabbers did not apply to them and that before the government intervened in my case, they would have killed me and taken my corpse away.

“The man who came with us was taken into the bush. I don’t know where the man is. My wife and I were later taken to the Ikorodu General Hospital for treatment.”

He added that he reported the case at the Sagamu Road Police Station.

His wife, 40-year-old Ayoni, identified some of the thugs as Yinusa, Orisore, Suku and Asela.

A source told our correspondent that the police raided the community and arrested Yinusa and other suspects, adding that they had been transferred to the Federal Criminal Investigation Department annex, Alagbon.

He said, “The men who brutalised the octogenarian and his wife had been involved in a lot of atrocities in the past. As I speak with you, officers of the FCID from Abuja have been deployed in Lagos and Yinusa has been arrested along with other suspects. One of them, Sakiru, however, escaped into the bush. Yinusa has been detained in Alagbon and he has named other members of his gang. The suspects would be moved to Abuja soon.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said she would call back, but she had yet to do so as of press time.

Source: Punch