A sociocultural group, Ibolo Renaissance Network (IRN) has described as deceit and lies from the pit of hell the allegations levelled against the Elemona of Ilemona in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State and Aide-De-Camp to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf, that he encroached on the hectares of land belonging to Offa town.
It said the allegations of land grabbing were baseless and unfounded and an attempt to distort history that the people of both Ilemona and Offa are familiar with.
In a statement issued in Ilorin on Sunday, the Coordinator of Ibolo Renaissance Network, Selim Adisa Aloba, said the action of Kwara South Youth Congress, a faceless group, was to propagate hatred and disaffection and in turn, incite communal crisis in the two towns.
IRN identified His Royal Highness, Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf as mediator and conciliator, who has been preaching peace, love and unity among the people of Ilemona, Offa towns and other adjoining communities, warning against
surreptitious move to cast aspersion on the reputation that the monarch has built over the years.
The statement urged the people to return to historical documents about communities in Ibolo speaking zone rather than this futile effort to denigrate and demonize the person of Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf over the land that naturally belongs to Ilemona town.
“Ibolo Renaissance Network (IRN) has been inundated with inquiries on the authenticity of the recent reports on some social media blog spots to the effect that parcels of land belonging to Offa community have been appropriated by Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf, the Elemona of Ilemona, Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State and Aide-De-Camp to the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Our resolve initially was not to dignify the reports with iota of response because they were full of lies from the pit of hell; a ploy to mislead the reading public and distort history.
“Those who have been following the trend of events closely would recall that some citizens of Offa extraction have propensity for land grabbing and dispossessing people of their ancestral land. A number of towns and communities neighbouring Offa town have unpleasant accounts and encounters with those known land grabbers, who are always out on expansionist agenda for Offa town, and it would be foolhardy for anyone to want to turn logic on its head.
“To set records straight, many indigenes of Igbonna, Ira, Ipe, Igosun, Ijagbo and Ojoku, all in Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State have suffered same fate like the Ilemona community is experiencing in the hands of some Offa people at the moment; they have history of hiding under certain pretexts to dispossess original land owners of their landed property.
“The question that every discerning mind should ask is “where is Offa boundary?” Ijagbo, Ipe, Igosun, Ojoku, Ilemona and all other neighbouring communities are saying the times whence Offa annexed our lands and treated us as subordinates are long gone.
“We are quick to say the recent issue with Ilemona is nothing new to Offa and we will not allow Offa to personalize it to blackmail any individual. Just recently, the lives of people of Ijagbo and Erin-Ile were reportedly lost on their portions of land that Offa is claiming.
“It is therefore expedient to draw the attention of peace loving people around the globe to this matter. At no time did His Royal Highness, Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf, indulge in land grabbing. Independent investigations showed that some indigenes of Offa, who were once allocated the parcels of land in Ilemona for farming and other activities, chose to remain on that land for a long time and when it was time for owners to reclaim what naturally belongs to them, it became an issue, to the extent that the indigenes of Offa that were asked to use the land temporarily, turned themselves to landlords on the property that wasn’t theirs.
“It is belittling and laughable simultaneously to allege that the hectares of land in question, which naturally belong to Ilemona town, were resold to the Elemona of Ilemona and ADC to Mr President. How can the parcels of land that belong to you be resold to you? This sounds ridiculous to the person and personality of His Royal Highness, Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf.
“We have it on good authority that some indigenes of Offa, with this lingering dispute of the hectares of land, have hatched a plot to cause communal crisis between Ilemona and Offa towns. In fact, some of them (from Offa) were arrested a few days ago with gun, charms and other harmful objects.
“As a peace loving individual, who has demonstrated this with every sense of modesty and responsibility, we (Ibolo Renaissance Network) stand in solidarity with His Royal Highness, Colonel Nurudeen Yusuf. The type of our gentleman monarch is rare, and he has not for once abused the privilege of the office he occupies presently, to undermine or suppress anyone or community contrary to the bogus claim, baseless and unfounded allegations against him through a faceless and non-existent Kwara South Youth Congress”, the IRN said.
END.
