The Kwara State government through its Geographic Information Service ( GIS) office said it had fully compensated the original owners of the vast land where the state pioneer tertiary institution- Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin is sited.

Following this clarification, the Alumni Association of the Kwara State Polytechnic Worldwide, with other stakeholders have asked every property owner or private developer on the institution’s land to contact the state Geographic Information Science (GIS) to ascertain the status of their property.

The association gave the advice during a stakeholders’ meeting, called to clarify issues with the villagers on the encroachment of the polytechnic land.

The meeting which was preceded by over 2- hour touring of the polytechnic’s land was attended by management of the institution, traditional chiefs and community leaders, delegation of Kwara State Geographic Information Service, representatives of Students Union Government (SUG), media executives and the host, the alumni association of the institution.

According to the communique issued at the end of the stakeholders’ meeting and tour of the encroached land of the institution at Oke Aponle, Ara, Gatta, Boyi, Oke Ose, Akuo, rector’s quarters, proposed polytechnic farm, the stakeholders agreed that the land was legally acquired and compensation paid to original land owners.

The communique, signed by the chairman, communique drafting committee, James Ogunlakin, said that if the record of any property owner was not with the Kwara state GIS, it means they do not have any property on the land.

They also called for peaceful resolution of the matter, saying that peaceful approach to the matter could not be over emphasized.

The communique also said that no piece of the polytechnic land is available for sale between the polytechnic land and Dangiwa community in Oke Ose area.

The communique added that: “All ongoing private construction works on the polytechnic land should be put to a stop henceforth”.

In his address at the stakeholders meeting , the protem president of the Kwara State Polytechnic Worldwide Alumni, Engineer Abu Salami, said that a look at the two different definitions of encroachment and land grabbing have showed that “the groups pitching tent against our alma-mata (Kwara State Polytechnic) has graduated from land encroachment to land grabbing.

“At this point, we are of the view that they are ready to use all means including threat, terrorism, sponsored court cases and blackmailing to snatch the land they do not own.

“At this point, we challenge any of the claimants to provide any document authorising the building of any of the structures on the land in dispute for which the Kwara State Government had already paid compensation to the original owners and we are ready to proof.

“We, the alumni and the students of this peace loving and prestigious citadel of learning who havebeen quiet and patiently watching the unfolding scenario between these bandits and our Polytechnic management are now up to say enough is enough as far as this daylight robbery is concern”.

The protem president of the alumni association added that: “Hence, part of the reason we are organising this forum is to gear the three arms of government in Kwara State through our current Executive Governor and the llorin community through the apex Ilorin socio-cultural and socio- political organisation (llorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union) to initiate the process of legally taken possession of its property and officially handing its ownership over to Kwara State Polytechnic, thereby allowing peace to reign within the polytechnic environment.”

LEADERSHIP reports that the management of the polytechnic led by the rector, Dr Jimoh Abdul Mohammed, had in the last three years engaged in activities to recover the institutions’s encroached land from the land grabbers and prevent further act of encroachment.

The latest of such efforts by the institutions’s management is the clearing of a vast land for the commencement of the polytechnic’s farm.