Tension In Osun Community Over Imposition Of N.2m Land Levy

Residents of Ifeloju, a suburb community in Ife, Osun State, are living in fear of the unknown after months of relative calm.

The fears of the community’s residents stemmed from threats by land grabbers to once again disturb the tender peace in the usually volatile area.

The latest bone of contention is the sum of N100,000 imposed on property owners of landed property in the community by alleged land grabbers parading themselves as “original owners” of the community.

The residents alleged that there are plans by “the impostors” to increase the N100,000

levy on every plot of land to N200,000 any moment from now.

“We hear that they are planning to impose N200,000 per plot on those that failed to pay the initial N100,000. And those who are

yet to develop their own plots may lose them.”

A source in the community, who said he was also a victim of the “extortionists”, said the same fate would befall those who have

developed theirs but did not pay the initial N100,000 levy.

Some aggrieved residents who spoke with our correspondent were irked by the fact that as at 2016, a plot of land in the area sold for N180, 000.

The tension in Ifeloju was palpable when our correspondent visited during the week. Residents spoke in hushed tones for fear that they could be marked by the land grabbers as enemies, based on their past experiences.

One of them said: ““When they were collecting the N100,000 levy, it was war. They would come on bikes in threes, with one of them as the rider while the two others would be brandishing guns and machetes.

“If they ask for the receipt of the N100, 000 and you fail to produce it, they would forcibly stop your workers from working.

“The most annoying part of it is that some of these hoodlums would collect money from you but it would not be receipted.

“They were so brazen that on their own, they were reselling the lands of people who could not produce receipts to higher bidders. It was that bad.”

Another resident, who described his experience with the hoodlums as chilling, said: “How I wish you had seen them disturb people who were working. They come with thugs wielding guns and machetes, and if you try not to pander to their wish, it could be fatal.”

Also narrating her bitter experience, a middle-aged woman who bought half a plot in the community said she suffered a heavy loss in the end.

“They told us after a meeting that each person should pay extra N50,000 for half plot and N100,000 for the full plot,” she recalled.

The next thing she saw the next time she visited the land, she said, threw her completely off balance.

“I discovered that the land had been cleared and the trees on it had been uprooted. Soon after I got to the place, some bricklayers arrived and prepared to start work.

“I asked them to disclose their identities and they claimed that the land belonged to someone else. I tried to call the person, but the person was talking with annoyance and efforts made to pacify him were abortive.”

She recalled that shortly after her conversation with the purported new owner of the land, some people came with machetes.

SOURCE: THE NATION