Ondo Farmers’ Protest: Firm Accuses Govt of Double Dealings

Fidelis David in Akure

The Vice President of SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, David Olijogun, has distanced his firm from the allegation of planned forceful eviction of Cocoa farmers from Oluwa Forest Reserve in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

This is just he claimed that the government is being dishonest or deceitful in its dealings with the farmers and the company.

Some angry farmers had last Sunday shut down the Lagos/Ore expressway to protest against an alleged forceful takeover of their farms by the state government through a private firm.

However, speaking at a press conference in Akure yesterday, the Vice President of SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, David Olijogun, said the firm is not owned by land grabbers, justifying that they got the allocation of the land legally from the Ondo State Government and paid all necessary money.

Particularly, Olijogun stated that the firm secured the Certificate of Occupancy(C-of-O) as far back as 2021. 

He explained that activities of the farmers in the Forest Reserves are illegal because forest reserves are government owned, and the government of Ondo State declare categorically, that, farming and hunting in its forest reserves are illegal acts.

According to him, SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited came to Ondo State to grow palm oil following the decision of the federal government to improve on oil palm production.

Ondo State delineated 100,000 hectares of its forest reserves across the state to execute the project supported by Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited is among the investors that invested in oil palm in Ondo State when the project started.

He, however, disclosed that the Managing Director of Bank of Agriculture(BOA), Ayo Sotinrin, has resigned from SAO Agro-Allied Services has resigned from the firm on April 7, 2025.

“Another thing I want to be made straight is the fact that they are now linking our former CEO with this issue that just happened yesterday. Our former CEO resigned on April 7. He was appointed the MD of Bank of Agriculture. So, he has resigned.

“Even all these things have been happening for the past 2, 3, 4 years. It’s not just happening because he was appointed the MD. Because the news I heard was that he is using his power to grab land from them. And this has been happening before he became the MD, and we have not even started to do anything at all.”

Corroborating Olijogun, the Chief Operating Officer of SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, Uthama SeelanKandasamy, said what the farmers at Oluwa Forest are doing has begun to scare intending investors from coming to the state.

He declared that his firm is an international one with sound track records, saying they are not land grabbers.

In his address, Chief Henry Oladunjoye, Executive Secretary, Red Gold Forum, blamed officials of Ondo State Internal Revenue Service (ODIRS) for the crisis in Oluwa Forest Reserve, saying they were double-dealing as they collect tax from the major investors and still went behind to collect levies from the farmers who are illegal occupants of the forest reserve.

He said: “A call by the federal government to bridge the deficit found in agriculture sector, particularly in palm oil production, made federal government to call on investors to invest in agric. It was identified that some Forest Reserves were idle and not generating revenue for the government in Ondo State.

“The state government delineates some of its forest reserves, that is, forest laws removed for the investors to plant there. 100,000 hectares were allocated to investors. 10,000 hectares was allocated to us and we paid necessary revenues. We have got the C-of-O since 2021. We paid all dues to the state government. We followed due process to get the lands. We pay average of N40million annually as tax to the state coffees.

“We have planted 130,000 oil palm and we still have 123,000 in the nursery to plant now. We have put in place various infrastructure facilities in farms and host communities besides the scholarship plan for students in the community as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

“We have invested over N15 billion in the oil palm in Ondo State. N6bn will be lost if the palm in the nursery are not planted. We have employed over 1000 people with over N30m being paid per month as workers’ salaries. When the state government allocated the place to us, necessary compensations were paid. We are about starting the Phase II of the planting.”

The investors, therefore, called on the federal government and Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa to intervene in the crisis, claiming that some investors, who had shown interest in the state, have begun to develop cold feet in bringing their money to the state.