Ajimobi Opens Up On Ibadan Forest Of Death

• Vows To Expose Killers
SPECIAL Adviser to Oyo State Governor on Security, Mr. Segun Abolarinwa, Saturday appealed to residents to patiently await the outcome of police investigations into the recently discovered kidnappers’ den at Soka in Oluyole Local Government Area of Ibadan.
He also said the outcome of forensic investigations currently being conducted by security agencies as well as examination by experts to unravel the circumstances surrounding the killings would soon be made public.
Abolarinwa, who spoke on a radio programme in the state capital, said it would not be proper to preempt the outcome of investigations before it is concluded by security agencies. The Special Adviser, who described the incident as highly unfortunate and disheartening, absolved the state government of complicity in the plight of the captives and killings at the den, saying no government would sit and watch its citizens being taken captive or killed.
He recalled that the site was acquired in 1988 by a firm, Habiton, which later leased it to a construction company, Aprofill, adding that Aprofill abandoned the site when the contract it was executing then was terminated.
On why the site had not been taken back by the state government since it was abandoned, he said that Habiton had taken Aprofill and government to court and that the case was yet to be determined, thus preventing government from tampering with the large expanse of land, which he put at 11,000 square metres.

He stated that it was part of the government’s urban renewal programme to remove destitute from the streets, adding that it was true that government contracted consultants to remove destitute from the streets with an understanding that they would be rehabilitated and reunited with their respective families, while those from other parts of the country would be taken to their states of origin.
Abolarinwa said the issue of hiring consultants for such assignments did not just start with the Ajimobi administration, stressing that such arrangements had been on for many years and that the particular consultant hired for the assignment had worked with past administrations.
He, however, said that the police and other forensic experts handling the matter should be allowed to conclude their investigations to determine whether the consultant hired by government was involved in taking destitute to the site, though without the knowledge and approval of government.
The Special Adviser said that even Governor Ajimobi was surprised to have discovered such a thick forest in the heart of Ibadan city, remaining fallow for years.
This, he said, spurred the governor into revoking the certificate of occupancy of the land and ordering immediate demolition of structures and clearing of the bush.