On Sunday, 4 May, 2025, Hundreds of farmers in Ondo State barricaded the Lagos/Ore Expressway to protest the alleged forceful seizure of their farmlands at the Oluwa Forest Reserve (OA3A) in Odigbo Local Government Area by a private company, SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited.
The aggrieved farmers, carrying placards and palm fronds, accused the company, linked to Ayo Sotinrin, Managing Director of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), of collaborating with the state government to destroy their plantations.
Spokesperson for the protesters, Musafiu Irewolede, claimed the company began demolishing farms despite a subsisting court injunction barring any such actions.
Another farmer, Felix Adeniyi, said the action would displace over 15,000 farmers and devastate families relying on the land for their livelihoods.
Efforts to reach Rotimi Wemimo Akinsola, the Senior Special Assistant on Agriculture and Agri-business to Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, were unsuccessful, as messages sent to his phone were undelivered as of the time of filing this report.
In response, Sotinrin denied allegations of forceful eviction, just as he also added that SAO Agro-Allied had legally acquired the land through proper government channels and obtained a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O).
“We’re doing large-scale commercial farming and have offered the farmers 3,000 hectares of land and compensation, but many of them are illegally occupying the land,” he said.
