By SEYE OJO

A frantic phone call by one of his workers made Adewanle Adewuyi, agricultural entrepreneur and Chairman/Managing Director of Adewanle Adewuyi Agricultural Farm, Lagos State, to rush over to his farm complex.

When he got there, Adewuyi was momentarily dumbstruck by the total destruction of the huge project he had invested 30 solid years of his entreprenuerial life and N650 million to build.

When he found his voice, he screamed: “Haa! Where will I start from again? My farm! My labour of nearly 30 years! The police have ruined my life. Where are my cows? Where are my pigs? Where are the fishes in my ponds? So, they have all gone! Why did the police have to demolish my farm? But my farm is not part of their land now!”

After uttering those words, 68-year-old collapsed and fainted. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors revived him. But he spent 25 days before being discharged.

The commercial farm was into cattle ranching, fish farming, piggery, production of fish and cow meals as well as large scale fish smoking through two giant modern ovens. Adewuyi stated that before the destruction of the farm in December, 2013, his farm was used consistently as a choice agricultural training and research centre.

Some of the institutions that that partnered with the farm for the training, he said, included the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Department of Fishery and Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Topo-Badagry, Lagos State.

“Right from 1987, my commercial farm has been a regular and major source of meat to the people of Nigeria and Republic of Benin, particularly millions of Lagosians. Hundreds of customers from Delta State also come to Lagos on monthly basis to buy pigs, fishes and cows on a large scale,” he said.

Adewuyi’s farm was demolished by the Nigeria Police on Monday, December 16, 2013. The cops reportedly went to the community with six bulldozers and 250 fully armed policemen on the fateful day to reclaim their land from purported trespassers. But Adewuyi said his farm only shared boundary with the land belonging to the police. While the community claimed that more than 600 houses were levelled by bulldozers, the police authorities said only 126 houses were demolished.

During and after the demolition exercise, Adewuyi stated that he lost multi-million naira property and livestock. He has therefore demanded for a compensation of N650 million from the Nigeria police as special and general damages. Strong indications have also emerged that he may seek legal redress in a court against the Nigeria Police, the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) and the Federal Government if the compensation was not paid to him on or before February 21, 2014.

According to him, he had 10 earthen ponds in the farm and each contained an average of 7, 000 fishes, before the demolition. Some of the items that were destroyed in his farm during the demolition exercise, he said, were four blocks of a 20-room staff quarters for the 120 farm workers and the farm manager, 10 pig houses with reinforced concrete containing mature pigs ready for sales as well as 10 other pig houses for piglets and mother pigs. He added that about 1, 000 mature live pigs, each weighing 60 to 100 kilogrammes ready for Christmas sales were let loose, after the demolition of the piggery.

“Also, 10 concrete fish ponds on four acres of land; all the ponds were stocked with fish for Christmas sales, eight concrete fish ponds containing nursery ponds and fish hatchery ponds and 10 earthen fish ponds on four acres of land were also levelled by the bulldozers,” he said.

Adewuyi further listed a farm borehole, dug well, overhead water tank of 2, 500 gallons, a 25KVA diesel generator, two units of 7.5KVA electric generator, two units of 4.5KVA power generator, two units of 7.5KVA power generating grinding machine for production of cattle, fish/pigs feeds, two units of giant gas oven for drying of fresh fish, two big fish cropping nets, four big water pumps generating sets as well four submersible pumping machines for borehole, as some of the affected items.

The commercial farm is at the Agricultural Zone, Age-Mowo village, Badagry, Lagos State. In 1985, Adewuyi had applied to the Agricultural Land Holding Authority, an agency of the Lagos State Government, for allocation of land for a commercial farm. The agency conveyed the approval of the state government on the request to Adewuyi via a letter with Reference No: ALHA/AGRIC.2100/11 and dated August 12, 1988.

According to the letter of allocation, 10 hectares (26 acres) of land at the Agricultural Zone in Badagry was allocated to him for cattle ranching, animal husbandry, fish farming, other animal farming and meat processing.

Six years after Adewuyi commenced operations on his farm, he applied for a Certificate of Occupancy to secure further his title to the allocated farmland. As gathered, the state government granted the CofO with Reference No: AGRI/LAND/COFO/2100 on January 15, 1993.

According to him, he repurchased the allocated farmland from the aboriginal owners of the land. The sales receipt from the aboriginal owners, thumb-printed by the former village head of Mowo, the late Chief James Sanyingbe, and other stakeholders, read in part: “This day 19th May, 1989, an agreement was concluded for the sales of all that parcel of land measuring 10 hectares of land belonging to Mowo, opposite Agemowo Junction on Lagos Badagry Express Road.

“I, Chief James Sanyingbe (Baale Mowo Village Badagry) collected the sum of N350, 000 only from Prince Adewanle Adewuyi as sales proceed for the entire land. This is sequel to due consultation with all stakeholders.”

While Adewuyi was awaiting official letter of allocation from the government, he commenced his commercial farm operations on the farmland in 1987. He obtained loans from some banks, which he repaid with interests over a period of time. The banks included the then First Bank of Nigeria Limited now First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Credite Bank Nigeria Limited and Nigeria Agricultural Co-operative and Rural Development Bank Limited.

Sunday Sun gathered that he also sourced for and secured loans from cooperative societies and private individuals, such as the Late Chief M.K.O. Abiola for the commercial farm.

“When I started the commercial farm, 25 workers were employed. Some left and I employed more workers. But I had 120 workers by the time my farm was demolished by the police. Over the years, we have done businesses with individuals and corporate organisations, including ASCON in Badagry. My company is a big one,” he said.

One of the documents, which Adewuyi showed to Sunday Sun revealed that on November 10, 1987, via a letter with Reference No: PS/AF/TBD/89, the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria, Topo-Badagry, Lagos sent a correspondence to the Branch Manager, National Bank of Nigeria Limited, Badagry over 14 live cows supplied by the Adewanle Adewuyi and Company to the college. It was entitled: Re: Adewanle Adewuyi and Company, Suppliers of Cows to ASCON.

“This is to certify that the above mentioned contractor has supplied ASCON 14 life cows, which have not been paid for. However, the college is processing the payment,” Abudu Ikhidero, the Chief Stores/Supplies Officer said on behalf of the then Director General of ASCON.

Sunday Sun reliably gathered that the Baale of Atinporomeh, Chief Joshua Madepo, received a letter signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), F.G. Ogundeji, for the Commissioner of Police, Lagos Command on Saturday, December 14, 2013, entitled: Encroachment on Police land located at Agemowo/Agelado Mowo via Badagry.

According to the letter, the land was allocated to the Nigeria Police by the Lagos State Government for Police Housing Units with Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) No 33/33/2009.

In his reactions to the demolished property, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Mr. Umar Manko, explained that the Nigeria Police spent N176million to acquire all the appropriate documents relating to its 64.429 hectares of land at the Polome community, Mowo Phase II, Badagry.

While saying that the land was meant for the Police Housing Scheme, Manko stated that the property was acquired when the current chairman of the Police Service Commission, Sir Mike Okiro, was the Inspector General of Police.

He disclosed that only 126 houses were demolished during the exercise, not over 600 reported in the media. He said members of the host community and the illegal occupants were duly notified before the exercise was executed.

When Sunday Sun visited the Agricultural Land Holdings Authority (ALHA) of the Lagos State Government, at Oko-Oba in Agege, the General Manager was not in the office and no member of staff was ready to give the reporter his mobile number.

But some of the staff members who preferred anonymity said the land allocated to Adewanle Adewuyi Agricultural Farm was different from the land belonging to the police. They said since the chairman of the farm, Mr. Adewanle Adewuyi had petitioned Governor Babatunde Fashola, the letter would be sent through the Commissioner for Agriculture and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture to ALHA. They said the government would work on it.

When asked if an Agricultural Zone could still be re-allocated for housing scheme, a senior officer at ALHA, simply remarked: “Investigation will reveal the mystery behind the development.”

In a chat with Sunday Sun, Adewuyi’s counsel, Mr. Debo Adeleke, said petitions had been sent to the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State on the matter. He lamented that his client was neither served any quit notice nor court process before the demolition of the farm.

“He was not summoned to any police station to answer any question relating to alleged acts of criminal trespass. He was not sued to any court of law for any alleged trespass. His title documents in respect of the land have not been revoked and their validity have not been contested or challenged by anybody. The invasion and destruction were not in execution of a lawful order or judgment of a court of law of competent jurisdiction.

“The police that ought to be our client’s friend, on this occasion, acted whimsically, heartlessly, capriciously and with total contempt and disregard for the rule of law and process of law. The police took  law into its own hands and broke it. For the law is that even if our client was a trespasser on the farmland, once he is in actual possession and physical occupancy, the police or anybody that is challenging his title or intent on wresting possession from him cannot resort to self-help to recover possession from him.

“The Police Officers’ Wives Association or any person claiming to be the rightful owner of the farmland or who claims he has a superior title thereto must have recourse to the law court to litigate his grievances, vindicate his alleged right and recover possession. The police did not follow this path,” Adeleke stated.

Commenting on the letter to the police boss, Adeleke stated that the information at the disposal of his client revealed that the “barbaric and Gestapo-style invasion of the farm and its utter destruction was based on a claim by the police that the farmland was allocated to the Police Officers Wives Association and that a purported certificate of occupancy was granted in respect of the purported allocation, sometime in year 2009.”

Adeleke, who is the Principal Partner at the Maritime, Commercial and Immigration Law Chambers, stated the invasion of Adewuyi’s farm “by hordes of policemen, and the total destruction of his property on the farm is unwarranted, callous, inhuman and cruel in the extreme. Such an unconstitutional and despicable act cannot be accommodated under a democracy.”

In the petition to Governor Fashola, Adeleke stated: “Our client is a 60-year-olf man; age-wise, his is in no position of physical strength to start his farm life all over again or replicate his farming passion. The hope, joy and aspiration of spending the rest of his lifetime in peaceful and fulfilled retirement has been dashed and he is now faced with a bleak future with a deteriorating health condition.

“The psychological injury and trauma that he has suffered due to the colossal damage to his property is impacting him so overwhelmingly. Something must be done to assuage his situation urgently.”

He enjoined Governor Fashola to wade into the matter by taking it up with the police authorities at the highest levels, adding that  demolition was not only a private injury meted to a private citizen, also an attack on a thriving agricultural initiative within the state to ensure food security.

Chairman of the farm, Mr. Adewuyi, said when the land beside his farm was allocated to the police in 2008, some policemen purportedly trespassed into his farmland and cleared off about 1, 000 units of pineapples. According to him, he petitioned Governor Fashola, who responded immediately.

“I received a call at about 6:00a.m few days later that I should meet the officials of the Lagos State Government on the farm that morning. I met them there and it was resolved that the land allocated to the police did not reach my farmland. Why the policemen came on December 16 to demolish my farm, which is not on their land, has been a mystery to me,” Adewuyi stated.

Equally devastated by the demolition exercise is the Manager of the farm, Mr. Olakunle Olasoji, 51, who grduated in 1986 with a Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate from The Polytechnic Ibadan. He joined the company barely a year after his graduation. He got married while in the company and has had four children. His first child currently seeks admission into tertiary institution while other kids are in private primary and secondary schools.

How to take care of the children has been a source of concern to him. He lamented that no company would hire him at his age, adding: “I graduated from higher institution at an analogue age. This is a computer age. I am sure, if I want to practise journalism, no print or electronic media will employ me.

“The fact that I work in this commercial farm has made me to develop interest in farming. I now have a strong passion for agriculture. At the demolished farm, I have seen how we supplied beef to many corporate organisations such as banks, hospitals, military formations, Police College and so on. On daily basis, we supplied an average of 30 cows. Apart from selling of live cows, people usually gave us calls, we would kill the cow and supply them the beef.

“We operate integrated livestock farming. Fish sellers from different parts of the country usually patronise us. Up till now, customers have been calling us for supplies. The farm was demolished barely a week to Christmas and we were ready for Christmas bumper sales. But everything was destroyed by the bulldozers.”

The Head of Cow Unit, Mr. Mufutau Ogunniyi, 65, and Head of Security Unit, Mallam Aliyu Mohammed, of the commercial farm, have been very sad since the demolition took place. They were afraid of what the future holds for them, saying they did not prepare for retirement as at December last year. Mohammed, who was on duty when the demolition team stormed the farm, said he was helpless as he could not stop the police from carrying out their mission.


Source: Sun