A prominent businessman in Ogun State, Mr. Akogun Elijah Adeogun has raised the alarm over an alleged plot by a group of people to implicate him in a murder case over a land matter.
Mr. Akogun has therefore called on the Inspector General of Police IGP Kayode Egbetokun, to come to his rescue and save him following the trumped up allegation by some people he described as land speculators who are bent in linking him to the unrest and murder in Osuke community of Ota, Ogun State .
Addressing newsmen during a press conference in Abuja, Mr Adeogun said those linking him to the unrest in Osuke which claimed the life of one Obasanjo Jinadu Saheed, had resorted to blackmail and using the police to arrest him incessantly despite the fact that he was not in Osuke community when the incident happened as well as the fact that he has no hand in the incident.
His words: “This issue started about three week ago after I was selected by the Living Faith Tabernacle church aka Winners Chapel Ota as a member of the Church’s Land Committee. I’m not from Osuke community. I’m from Ilasa community. I have been to Osuke only once in my life. I don’t have a land in Osuke community and I am not the Winners Chapel that owns land in the area. I was included in the Land Committee three weeks ago because they got wind of the kind of job I do.
“We had a meeting of the committee where it was resolved that everyone should steer clear of all the lands belonging to the Church at least for now, because despite having a subsisting court injunction which was gotten on the lands, the land speculators still continue to dredge the land for commercial purposes. So, it was resolved that we should write a petition to that effect. He said.
Akogun further said, they were at the Police Command at Elewaran Ogun State, last week for the petition they wrote on the case, while one Ibrahim Ibuoye also wrote his own petition, “saying It was at the DCP’s office we resolved through an undertaking that all parties should maintain status quo on the land as the court ruled. Is Winners land a plot of land or half plot of land that I can encroach with the aim of selling? So, how will I go there to cause trouble?” He asked.
Speaking on the blackmail and concerted efforts to malign him using the police, Mr. Akogun said ”I was in court on Monday February 24th when the blackmail started.
“One Mr. Julius Aghahowa called me that he heard there was shooting at Osuke community and I asked him of what concern that was to me and told him not to call my line again. When I returned from court in the evening, I got another call from Zone 2 police command Onikan Lagos because Winners’Church land matter is being handled there with the IGP Monitoring Unit, so I told them that they should call Winners because I don’t have land in Osuke community and I am not at loggerheads with anyone in the community.
“My role in Winner’s land committee is just to advise them on what to do to resolve the land dispute they have with land speculators. After I returned from the Magistrates’ court in Ota , I found the news report linking me to the unrest and killing of one Obasanjo Jinadu Saheed at Osuke community . I was shocked as I was not in anywhere near Osuke community that fateful day. The matter was reported at the Elewaran police Headquarters in Ogun state and the police went to the court to investigate and they found out that I was indeed in the court when the unrest and killing took place in Osuke community.
“I am therefore very sad that due to my membership as a land Committee member of my Church, some land speculators are out to destroy my name and link me to a terrible crime like murder. I have learnt that they have petitioned the Assistant Inspect General of Police AIG Zone 2 Onikan Lagos to arrest me . This is all in a bid to continue to soil my reputation. I will not hesitate to report these persons to the police authority over this blackmail and linking me to murder. I am therefore appealing to the IGP Egbetokun to save me from these desperate land speculators as I call for a thorough investigation into this matter because I am innocent’’ he explained.