Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State has denied that government officials, in collusion with SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, are dispossessing cocoa farmers in the state of their farmland.
The government described the reports of protests by some cocoa farmers over farm settlements in the state as “misleading” and “emotionally distorted.”
It was earlier reported on Sunday that hundreds of farmers in the Oluwa Forest Reserve (OA3A) in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State had staged a major protest, accusing the state government, and officials of SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited of attempting to forcefully evict them from farm- lands they have cultivated for years, despite a subsisting court order halting such actions.
The farmers, who wielded placards and banners, blocked a major highway and chanted slogans demanding justice and protection from what they described as state-backed land grabs.
The protest follows a March 24, 2025, interlocutory injunction by the Ondo State High Court, which restrained both the state government and SAO Agro-Allied Services Ltd from carrying out further grading or eviction activities pending the final determination of the case filed by the farmers.
Governor Aiyedatiwa, in a statement issued on Tuesday, through his Chief Press Secretary, Prince Ebenezer Adeniyan, in reaction to the reports, stated that many of the aggrieved farmers breached existing agreements and exceeded designated land allocation parameters.
In the statement titled: ‘Setting the Record Straight on Cocoa Farmers’ Protest and the Role of Government Officials,’ the governor noted that the actions of the government have been guided by “legal counsel, verified surveys, and documented notifications”.
The governor alleged that the protest report contained several misleading claims, emotional distortions, and deliberate misrepresentations aimed at discrediting the government’s ongoing efforts to reform and sanitise land use practices within government reserve areas across the state.
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