RismadarVoice Reporters, February 25, 2026
Residents of Ilupeju Community in Osogbo, Osun State, on Tuesday staged a peaceful protest over an alleged plan by the state Ministry of Lands and Physical Development to block the only access road to the area.
The protesters, carrying placards with inscriptions such as “Save Ilupeju and Shittu Estate from Isolation,” “Stop violation of our right to movement,” and “Our road, our right,” accused some ministry officials of colluding with homeowners in a nearby government-owned estate to shut down the road leading into the community.
Speaking on behalf of the protesters, counsel to the community, Mr Taiwo Ajibola, warned that blocking the access road would impose severe hardship on more than 4,000 residents.
Ajibola said discussions between representatives of the community and ministry officials revealed that the current access road was said to be part of a parcel of land allegedly belonging to an undisclosed individual.
He explained that amid the disagreement, the land in question was revoked by the state government and later reallocated, a development that heightened suspicion among residents that influential individuals might be working through government officials to make the area inaccessible.
“We have about 3,000 houses in this community and about 4,000 inhabitants.
Blocking this road will create serious security and emergency concerns,” Ajibola said.
He added that in March 2025, while the dispute was ongoing, an individual laid claim to the land, but residents later discovered that he was not an allottee.
According to him, a revocation notice was subsequently sighted on the land around August last year.
“The community applied for the land to be allotted to us so we could formally create an access road.
However, we later discovered it had allegedly been reallocated to another person without our knowledge. We are not going to allow that,” he said.
Ajibola noted that the community had written to Governor Ademola Adeleke and petitioned the police over the matter, adding that both authorities were aware of the protest.
“We are passionately appealing to the Osun State Government to grant us access to our community. This is our only road and it should not be blocked,” he said.
Corroborating the residents’ claims, Abdulrahim Iderawumi of Sobaloju Lobekan Compound, Osogbo, who represented the family that originally owned the land, said the access road had served the community for years.
He urged Governor Adeleke’s intervention to prevent further tension.
“This has been the only access road to the community from time immemorial. The land was given to the Federal Government years ago, and we do not understand the state government’s current position on it. The people building houses here have no other road. The governor should step in,” Iderawumi said.
Responding to the allegations, the Osun State Commissioner for Lands and Physical Development, Mr George Alabi, maintained that a property had been developed on the parcel of land originally designated as the access road to Ilupeju Community.
He insisted that the existing road being used by residents was unauthorised.
However, he assured that efforts were underway to resolve the matter.
“During our last meeting, the leaders of the adjoining community requested my presence, and I visited the site last Wednesday to assess the situation,” Alabi said.
“After examining the roads shown to me, I assured them that the ministry will find a way to create access for them, so there will be peace between the Ilupeju Community and the GRA residents.”
