From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
An octogenarian businessman, Chief Abiola Ogundokun, lamented that about N500 million has been lost in his cashew farm razed by fire in Iwo, Osun State.
He described the fire incident as a disaster, saying that several attempts have been made to wreck him but for God’s intervention and protection over him.
Narrating the unfortunate incident after the inspection of the damage done to the farm, the erstwhile publicity secretary of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN), said this incident will force him out of farming.
He said: “I have suffered this type of unfortunate destruction before. They have come to burn my investment which runs into millions of naira, but I thank God he has kept me alive. Heartless people who are enemies of God have come to do this with all the investment that I hope that money will come out of it.
“I have completed nine hectares of farm plantation that have been burnt. I have been on the farm for over 40 years.
“It happened from Saturday to Sunday, January 22, this year. I was sick. I had an accident at home. I am just recovering when they told me about the destruction.”
After the inspection, Ogundokun said the cashew and cassava on the farm would have fetched him about N500 million on all the nine hectares. “Cashew brings money better than cocoa and the cassava on the farm. A trip of cassava is being sold for about N85,000. We have some cassava inside but cashew is money all over the world. It has replaced cocoa income.”
The elder statesman who pointed fingers at suspected Fulani herdsmen, stated that people who don’t like God are behind the attack. He said: “I’ve suffered about 14 assassination attempts in my life. I have been on this farm for over 40 years.
“These Fulani herders have been disturbing me a lot with their cattle. There was a time that they begged that I should make them pay N100,000 which is nothing to the destruction committed, and we have been telling them but they are not ready to listen. They keep coming. There was a time I gave them some land to farm in there but they didn’t do the farming, they decided to use the land for cattle rearing and we drove them away when they burnt down the establishment.
“But now I think that the result is that since I banned them maybe that is why they are coming to destroy. They can’t drive me away from my land. The worst is for me to change the land to anything rather than farming or something.
“I have been sick. I’m just getting out. I have spent about N50 million on the crops because I went to another state to buy this special product. This is a very special breed.”
On the next action, Ogundokun said: “I will run away from farming. I’m getting tired. Why will I have to invest every year and I get to lose money? I believe that if I have a farm here I can settle here at home rather than roaming about all the world or staying in Lagos where I have a comfortable home or Ibadan or Abuja. If I stay at home, I will be more useful to my people by providing jobs for the less privileged.”
A resident in the community, Rabiu Olalekan, described the action of the perpetrators as ‘wicked and ungodly.’ He said the community woke on January 22 and discovered that the farm had been razed by fire, saying the hunters that are chasing animals or herdsmen would cause the havoc.
Also, Lateef Adisa, who said the cashew is almost at the harvesting stage, expressed surprise that the whole farm was burnt as if it was targeted.