Date: 2017-05-05

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has ordered residents of Alagbado Community in Ilorin to vacate the land allegedly encroached upon by the people.

Mr Adeniyi Mathew, NAF Coordinator, 303 Medium Airlift Group (MAG), told newsmen in Ilorin on Thursday that the land was allocated to the Air Force in 1987.

Adeniyi, who presented the land chart to newsmen, said that 20 acres out of a total of 220 acres of the land belonging to NAF was encroached upon by the community.

He said that he was part of the delegation that visited Alagbado in 2010 to inform the community that the land belonged to NAF. "Take it or leave it, the land belongs to the NAF; it has been so as far back as 1987 as you can see in the chart.

"They started encroaching on the land since 2008 and in 2010, I was part of the NAF team that went to the community to inform them of the encroachment," he said.

Reacting, a community leader, Alhaji Abdulrahim Bakare, said he was not aware that the land belonged to the Nigerian Air Force.

"I was born in this community and we have had four generations before I became the Mogaji (village head), I was not aware that the land belongs to NAF.

"We are appealing to NAF to consider those who have erected structures on the land before taking any action on the matter," the community leader said.

According to Bakare, some NAF officials have started demolishing some houses and destroying property in the community. "We were surprised to see bulldozers and we learnt that NAF want to fence the land," he said.