Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State asked residents to stop protesting the government’s acquisition of their land for development, stating the government will always compensate them.
The governor made the statement during the first-year memorial of late Chief Theophilus Akinyele in Ajia, Ibadan.
He continued that Oyo indigenes should follow the example of Pa Akinyele, who gave his own land to the state. He also promised the crowd he would do everything in his power to build Ajia into the metropolis Pa Akinyele envisioned.
Moreover, the governor announced that the Information Communication Technology Institution in Ajia will be named in honour of Pa Theophilus Akinyele.
He also said the state had obtained a commitment from the Nigerian Air Force to establish an Air Force Base in Ajia, which would speed up its development.
“We have the commitment of the Nigerian Air Force to set up their base here in Ajia. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to those protesting that the government has dispossessed them of their land. I am from here and Mama is the Iyalode of Ajia. So, we know the true sons and daughters of this place,” he said.
Makinde urged individuals opposing the government’s purchase of lands for the public benefit to refrain from doing so to avoid becoming a stumbling block to Ajia’s development.
