Ogun to evict illegal settlers

The Ogun State Government is escalating its campaign to remove illegal settlers from the state's nine designated forest reserves. Commissioner for Forestry, Taiwo Oludotun, confirmed that the government has intensified enforcement operations to ensure the eviction of these occupants.

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We have made some enforcement to make sure we chase them out of the forest, but we have discovered that some of them still stay. They have become a menace to us, and this is not allowed within our forest reserves because they end up destroying our forests.

Oludotun described the illegal settlers, many of whom are reportedly from Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Benue, and northern states, as a menace. He stated that their continued presence undermines the integrity of the forest reserves, leading to destruction and posing a threat to the state's forest estate. The commissioner emphasized that forest reserves are strictly for conservation and not intended for human habitation or agricultural settlements.

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The forest reserve is not a habitation for people to live. It is a forest, not a farm settlement or a residential area. Anybody living in the forest obviously has an ulterior motive. That is why we don’t really want them there.

"The forest reserve is not a habitation for people to live. It is a forest, not a farm settlement or a residential area," Oludotun stated. He expressed suspicion about the motives of individuals living in forests, suggesting they might be fugitives or have ulterior motives, as it is unusual for a sane person to reside in such an environment.

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They are posing threats to our forest estate and the state government. More so, these are people we don’t know. We don’t know their antecedents or the kind of work they do. How will a normal human being live in the forest? Then you should know either that person is a fugitive or has an ulterior motive because I don’t see why a sane person will live in a forest.

The government has been serving quit notices and conducting enforcement operations to clear the reserves. The nine gazetted forest reserves include Omo, Olokemeji, Ilaro/Ipake, Ohumbe/Oja-Odan, Aworo, Eggua, Edun Stream, Arakanga, and Imeko. To bolster these efforts, the state government has increased patrols and surveillance within the reserves by engaging the services of the Amotekun Corps, a regional security outfit, to complement the work of forest guards.

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We discovered that most of these settlers are even indigenes of our state. Most of them are from Osun, Kwara, Ondo, Benue and the northern states. This is not allowed. We are doing everything within the state government’s power, legally, to chase them out, and we will continue to do that until they leave the forest.