By: Selim Adisa Aloba
One thing that is certain and crystal clear is that the cerebral and dutiful officer of the Nigerian Army, Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf, will not have the time to read the jaundiced hatched job pseudo authored by Eluku, who is popularly known for his poverty of English diction. But since an injustice to one is an injustice to all, we shall hereby be responding to purge the fallacies and straighten the narrative on the contentious hectares of land.
In brevity, the land in tension is between some families in Ilemona and some families in Offa. Yusuf, President's ADC has no issue with Offa or any person or people in Offa, and the attempt to drag him into the issue is a futile exercise.
The first half of Eluku’s letter betrays the true community policy of Offa in relation to any success of the neighbouring towns. This is in pursuance of Offa’s goal of annexing all the neighbouring towns. It is in verifiable records today that Offa has practically annexed some parts of Erin-Ile, Ijagbo, Ipe, Igosun, Igbonna and Ojoku. One is tempted to have the impression that the belief of Offa as a community, and her establishment is that nothing good can come from Ibolo land except it is from Offa. Once anything good happens to anyone from Ibolo land, Offa will, as a matter of practice, start by claiming the thing/person and the moment the person identifies with his/her true town, Offa will be up in arms and drag that person (s) to the slaughter slab. Same is the trend here.
Just less than six (6) months ago, Offa was celebrating the ADC and claiming him as their son. We were hearing things like ‘he grew up in Offa”, “he is from Offa”, “he attended OGS and The Federal Polytechnic, Offa”, “his wife is Offa”, “he is more from Ile Oluwe than Ilemona” et cetera. But mark this, the moment the ADC decided to associate with his real home, they have started linking him with the list of ignoble Nigerians. Interestingly, Eluku forgot to mention the names of Offa past and present leaders on that list. Likewise, he forgot to mention those in AMCON list of shameless debtors. But since the Yorubas say akii ti oju onika mesan kaa, we will leave this point at this level.
Comically, after wasting more than a half of his ill-conceived piece, Eluku moved to his perceived crux of the matter and alleged three things; 1) Offa developed Ilemona; 2) Ilemona and Offa have always been at peace; 3) The existence of the so called ADC boys. Now, let us discuss his issues.
One thing that oozes out of an average Offa man is their pride, that may be the wisdom in selecting peacock as their emblem. Except for the lack of alternative, no Offa man will develop a neighbouring town. It is also evident that Offa lacks vast expanse of land. That is why all the big farms, businesses and most of the big schools owned by Offa are sited outside the town, even campuses of The Federal Polytechnic, Offa are on disputed pieces of land. Remember a prince had his paper mill in Erin Ile, an Asiwaju of Offa Biscuit Factory in Ijagbo, Olofa farm in Ilemona, a popular school on Igosun land and the Offa GRA on Ipe Land, to mention but a few. Despite their friendly accommodation, Offa has tried to forcefully annex parts of these towns.
It is also a packet of lies that Ilemona and Offa have always been at peace until the emergence of the new Elemona. All the facts available exposed Eluku to be a shambolic liar. But not to allow him waste our time, I will only refer him to the Shawo Akubiado Family who has a 9 years protracted suit on a portion of Ilemona land that they named Aba Shawo until the ADC got involved and settled them amicably and filed a term of settlement out of court last year.
Also, as at the time of writing this, there is a more than 10 years case currently in the court of appeal where Offa people are claiming the ownership of Budo Gbada. Likewise, the Asalofa people are claiming Ira fere portion of Ilemona boundary. We should all wonder how Offa jumped to that place.
That there exist a group called ADC boys is a facade and figment of imagination. The last community to subject us to such a terror is Offa, during the forsaken days of Offa Vigilante Group. Also, the last people to be caught with illegal possession of arms are from Offa, just a few days ago.
To cap this up, Offa has no land dispute with ADC or Elemona of Ilemona. What is happening is Offa people claiming the land that belongs to Ilemona people. For instance, the place where they caught Offa boys bearing arms is a portion of land in dispute between Oluode people of Ilemona and Oluwe people of Offa.
Offa has historically benefited from the train track that passed through the town, she should stop strangulating the growth of other communities.
Aloba is the Coordinator, Ibolo Renaissance Network
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