The police in Ogun State have arrested nine men who are allegedly landgrabbers at Odosegolu village along the Ijebu-Ode/Epe expressway.
The arrest of the suspects, newsmen learnt, followed valid intelligence gathered by the police that “some hoodlums were fomenting trouble at Odosegolu village with dangerous weapons.”
According to a statement by Omolola Odutola, Ogun State Police Command’s spokesperson, following the Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Alamutu’s directives, the area commander in Ijebu-Ode, ACP Omosanyi Adeniyi, had led “a crack team of operatives of 71 Police Mobile Force, anti-cultism, anti-kidnapping, and patrol teams from divisions under Ijebu-Ode Area Command, to the troubled village and rounded up nine suspected land grabbers.”
Odutola identified the suspects as Akeem Rabiu, 42, Ayodele Nureni, 49, Wasiu Olamilekan, 32, Abiodun Adeoye, 40, and Samuel Abayomi, 36.
Others are Sesan Badejo, 35, Ademola Ajayi, 58, Babafemi Badejo, 59, and Olabayo Jimoh, 31.
The police spokesperson alleged that “they are the notorious elements and crooks that have consistently robbed the aforementioned community of their lands.”
Odutola added: “These con men have engaged in a series of illegal forcible entry into the lands of locals, who did not have the wherewithal to defend themselves.”
She disclosed that they were arrested with dangerous weapons, charms, and hard drugs, noting that their arrest has been a big relief to residents of the village.
She further said that the suspects have all confessed to engaging in “illegal land conversion, stealing of lands, as well as defrauding people of their hard-earned monies.”
According to her, the suspect will be charged in court after the investigation is concluded.