The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Soka

  • Land dispute: 40 buildings demolished at Soka

    Residents of Soka community in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, have urged the government to stop the demolishing of buildings due to land disputes.

    They said 40 residential buildings under construction in the area had been demolished over a land dispute.

    The residents, who staged a peaceful protest to the Governor’s Office at Agodi in Ibadan, urged Governor Abiola Ajimobi to save their homes from further demolition.

    The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions, such as: “Save our Soul” and “We cannot afford to lose over 3,000 houses”.

    They decried the invasion of the community by suspected hoodlums attempting to eject them from the land they bought many years back and on which they built their homes.

    A leader of the protesters, Mr Ayo Akinsola, said one of the two parties currently claiming ownership of the land in the community said it obtained a court judgment on the land.

    He said another party had also been saying he is the authentic owners of the land.

    According to him, this made it difficult for the residents to know who to relate with before the alleged invasion of the community.

    Akinsola said the residents staged the protest to show their plight in the hands of the suspected “land grabbers” with the belief that the state government would tackle the problem with its Property Protection laws.

    Receiving the protesters on behalf of the governor, the Commissioner for Land, Housing and Survey, Mr Ajiboye Omodewu, assured them that a task force would be sent to Soka to stop the demolition.

    The commissioner said representatives of the parties in the land dispute would be invited to a meeting for amicable resolution.

    Omodewu urged the residents and the families claiming ownership of the land at Soka to avoid taking the law into their hands, pending the outcome of the government intervention.

    He said: “Since I became the commissioner, we have settled between 15 and 20 cases. They’ve taken one to the Supreme Court. You know before it got to the Supreme Court, it would have gone to lower and middle courts, and we settled it. This one as well, I’m assuring you that with the support of our boss (Governor Ajimobi), we will settle it.”

  • Soka: New face of an evil forest one year after discovery

    ABOUT a year ago, the Soka community in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, was thrown into confusion and disbelief as mutilated corpses, mentally challenged and malnourished persons were found co-existing in an environment totally unbefitting of human beings. Many individuals, who witnessed the dreaded sight last year, were shocked beyond words. However, a witness to the ugly sight last year one would marvel at the level of transformation that has since taken place.

    The discovery of mutilated bodies and near-dead human beings in the forest had sent jitters down the spines of Nigerians, while the incident made the headlines for most of last year. The more than 30 malnourished persons tied to stakes and hovering between life and death at the site littered with dead bodies, human skulls, limbs and other body parts, were said to be victims of a deadly ring.

    The evil deeds at the forest were said to have come to light after a team of commercial motorcycle riders went in search of two of their members, who had taken passengers to the area but never returned home. Visitors to the site were shocked to the marrow at the sheer bestiality that was going on at the forest.

    However, the public outrage triggered by the discovery subsided with assurances from the Oyo State Government and the security agencies that the culprits would be found and the forest would be transformed into an ultra-modern settlement within a short time.

    A traditional leader in the community, Alhaji Isiaka Bello, told our correspondent that since the government had cleared the forest and transformed it to a school facility, the people of the area had been living without the fear and trauma caused by the ugly discovery.

    Bello said: “When the incident happened, I felt very bad. It was heart-rending. The governor came here and wondered why we never knew that such evil was going on in our community. Sincerely, we used to pass the road that runs through the forest to Macmillan, but we never knew that such evil was going on.

    “Some Fulani herdsmen were always there with their cattle. It is very unfortunate that they did not also see what was going on there. The victims were not mad people as some people claimed.”

    The community leader believes that the people of the area would benefit from the structures being erected by the government at the site. He said: “The facilities that are being built are a very good development. Now, we have an additional education centre in the community. We want the governor to construct the bridge linking Idi-Mangoro to the school. This bridge has been abandoned for many years.”

    A resident of the community, Mr Tope Ayanbolu, said: “You can see that buildings are springing up and the owners of the other areas in the forest have started building hostels and other apartments that they can rent out to individuals or use as guest houses. All the bush in the area has been cleared. I believe that with what government is doing here now, such ugly incidents will never happen in this area again.”

    He urged the security agencies to be on the alert in the community in order to avoid a reoccurrence of the incident.

    Apart from model schools, other structures erected by the government to transform Soka into an ultra-modern community include parks and a community health centre. A visit by our correspondent revealed that private buildings were also being erected, while some others had been completed.

    One of the construction workers, who were seen putting finishing touches to the model school, spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that the government had converted the place into a model secondary school. He said the government had given March ending as deadline for the completion of the project.

    He added: “We are only contractors here. But we learnt that the building will be used as a school whose features will include classrooms, laboratories, a library, an administrative block and staff rooms, among others.

    “This area was once known as the evil forest where they kept kidnapped victims and where ritual killers came to buy human parts. But the government has changed the face of the area. When this school is completed by the end of this month, it will be one of the best in the country.”

    Commenting on how the incident had raised the value of properties in the area, an estate developer, Alhaji Bashiru Akande, said: “When the evil deeds in Soka were discovered, many landlords in the area sold their houses, while many tenants relocated. The effect of this was a slump in the value of properties in the area as many people were not ready to live in that community again. Now, things are getting back to shape because of the transformation that has taken place.”

    While Soka forest is wearing a new look, the police are keeping sealed lips over the arrest of persons behind the dastardly acts a year ago.

    Asked to comment on the result of police investigation so far, the Public Relations Officer of the Oyo State Police Command, Ade Ajisebutu, declined, saying: “I am a new PPRO in Oyo State. I was not around when Soka Forest was discovered; so, I cannot give you any information on it. You went there and saw for yourself.

    “But what I can tell you is that such an ugly incident will not happen again in Oyo State as we have taken proactive measures to nip such crime in the bud. We have engaged in constant visibility policing, constant patrol of the nooks and crannies of the state to prevent such occurrence.

    “We have also engaged in community policing, where we meet with community leaders, youths and other residents of the state to solicit their full cooperation.

    “We will make use of our intelligence gathering from the streets; and the Oyo State Police Command is working with the vigilance group at all levels in information gathering and sharing in tandem with the principle of community policing.”

  • Soka gets health centre

    Soka gets health centre

    While the stigma of hosting the forest of horror in Ibadan before it was dismantled by government still lingers for residents of Soka in the Oyo State capital, the people of the community are moving on with their lives as they recently commissioned a health centre they built. TAYO JOHNSON reports.

    Not many expected any good news to come out of Soka in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital so soon after the infamous discovery of an ‘evil’ forest littered with decomposed bodies and dozens of human parts in the community.

    But residents of the Oluyole Local Government Area community capital seem to have put the stigma of that discovery behind them and are moving on with their lives.

    A couple of weeks ago, the residents in their hundreds converged on Ire Akari Estate in the area to commission a Community Health Centre, the foundation of which was laid on June 8, 2010. The facility expected to serve the primary health needs of the people of the estate as well as 27 other communities comprising of 140 villages in the area was officially commissioned by a former chairman of the estate, Mr. Olayele Fasedemi, a business mogul.

    The businessman made some promises at the ceremony which include; donation of a bus, electricity generating set, drugs, medical equipment and money to the health centre.

    The residents were over joyous when the medical officer in Oluyole Local Government, Dr. Zainab Hamzat, announced that the council had transferred a midwife to work at the health centre. Hamzat also said the council would look into the possibility of sending doctors to the health facility soon.

    Although the residents expressed joy at the opening of the health facility as they would no longer have to travel for about 10 kilometres to access public healthcare, but they were still very sad that the road that leads to the health centre was in a bad shape.

    They wanted the government to adequately equip the health facility in order to complement the hospital beds, tables and chairs, examination couch, drugs and other medical equipments donated by individuals and corporate organizations to the centre.

    They therefore appealed to the Chairman of Oluyole Local Government, Mr. Abass Aleshinloye, and Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State to come to their aid.

    Lauding the initiative, the Chairman, Ire-Akari Landlords Association, Alhaji Abdulrasaq Fadahunsi, told The Nation that he “used to go from here to Ring Road to access medical care. But the presence of this health facility has changed that now. In the centre, we have delivery bed, examination bed, drugs and we are still looking up to government to provide major equipment for this centre.

    “Everything we have here is on personal donations by individuals, groups and through communal efforts from the residents. The estate donated the land and we did the foundation. The government erected the building and painted it. We still want to do flooring of the compound and the fence. Also, we need a borehole from the government for the centre.ý But the major cry of all residents of this area is the deplorable state of the roads in the estate. We have sent a SOS message to the chairman of the local government, Mr. Abass Aleshinloye. He has promised that he would do it. But he has not done it.

    “The roads are almost impassable now. From Idi-Mango where we have the health centre to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the journey used to take about five minutes when the road was good, but now it takes at least 20 minutes.”

    Also, the pioneer general secretary of the estate, Mr. Olawale Smith Ogunlaja, stated that the foundation of the health centre was laid on June 8, 2010, after the community sought the assistance of the Community Development Council of Oluyole Local Government, under the state Ministry of Women and Social Welfare.

    According to him, the benefits attached to the presence of the health centre in the estate will cut across all the nooks and crannies of the area.

    Recalling the situation before the opening of the health centre, Ogunlaja said:”In the past, we were without health centre within this area. Then, we used to take our wives and children to Academy, where we had the nearest Primary healthcare Centre of Oluyole Local Government. It is about 10 kilometres to this estate.

    “Since the inception of this area, we have never benefitted anything from the government. I am appealing to the government to fix our roads. We want the government to fix Abuja Way, which links Ire-Akari to Idi-Mango Road. It is about two kilometres. Then, the road that comes into the community through Soka also needs urgent attention,”

    Vice chairperson of the community, Mrs. F.F. Akinwande, said since the foundation of the health centre was laid four years ago, little or nothing was done until a prominent member of the estate, Engineer Fawole, decided to leverage on his influence to ensure the erection of the building.

    “To set the health centre in operation, the landlords of Ire Akara Estate have done a tremendous work both in cash and in kind. Some individuals surprised us by their donations both in cash and kind. Some of the churches and the Central Mosque within the estate also played vital roles by their donations.” said she

    Former chairman of the estate, who began the project, Mr. Olayele Fasedemi, said the health centre would serve the eight communities in the estate, and 19 other communities, comprising 140 villages.

    He also expressed his sadness on the deplorable state of the road that leads to the health centre which has not been fixed by the government, adding that the stretch of the road from Soka to Ire-Akari Estate has become an eyesore.

    Fadesanmi said:”We want the government to please look at us with mercy. Nobody wants to come and visit us any longer because of the deplorable road. We can’t invite our friends because we are ashamed to invite them to our houses because the roads are impassable. To get to Soka from my place, which should take five minutes, now takes about 20 minutes,”

    Some of the highlight of the ceremony included a lecture on Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) and hypertension by Dr. Zainab Hamzat, the medical officer at Oluyole Local Government.

    On EVD

    She enlightened members of the community on preventive measures against the virus such as personal hygiene, cleanliness, environmental sanitation, regular hand washing with soap with running water and avoiding contact with faeces, urine, vomits, sweat and saliva of sick persons.

    “Anyone who has open wound should please cover it so that the wound will not contaminate the environment. EVD does not have cure for now, but early detection of it will help in curtailing the spread of the virus. So, if anyone in the community manifested symptoms suggestive of EVD, the community should urgently contact the local government,” Hamzat advised.

    The doctor also described hypertension as a common ailment that does not show on faces of people, urging adults to ensure regular medical screening to know whether they are hypertensive or not.

    “If you want to prevent hypertension, the importance of lifestyle modification cannot be overemphasised apart from administration of drugs. What we eat has a lot to do with our health. I advise adults to eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. They should avoid smoking and taking alcohol and they should do a lot of exercise. This will also help hypertensive patients to respond to treatment.” Hamzat stated.

  • Soka: Man arraigned for ‘kidnap’

    Soka: Man arraigned for ‘kidnap’

    A man, Sakiru Adebayo (37), was arraigned yesterday before an Ibadan Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting at Iyaganku for alleged kidnapping of two persons.

    The prosecutor, Sunday Ogunremi, told the court that Adebayo kidnapped Lanre Salami (25) and Dare Ogunkunle (23).

    He said Adebayo was a customer of Salami, a commercial motorcyclist.

    Ogunremi said on March 20, Adebayo told Salami to take him to Soka in Ibadan and Salami’s brother, Ogunkunle, accompanied them there.

    He said since then, Salami and Ogunkunle had been missing.

    Adebayo pleaded “not guilty”.

    The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Sofiat Oyediran, granted Adebayo N50,000 bail with two sureties in like sum.

    The case was adjourned till June 25.