The APC accused the state government of lying behind the guise of developing a new town to take over the area in a statement issued on Monday by its chairman, Col. David Imuse (retd.).

The party also questioned the state government’s claim that the area had been acquired by the government and renamed Ogba Forest Reserve over the years, but that it still issued Certificates of Occupancy to bonafide buyers.

He said, “As a party, we condemn in strong terms these illegal demolitions by the jittery and rudderless PDP-led administration in the state. We see this policy of regularly demolishing public and private properties by the Obaseki-led government as irrational, evil and undemocratic.

“Before this land was forcefully acquired by the same government in 2017, it was the world-renowned Ogba River Forest Reserve, which successive governments before Obaseki used for reforestation purposes.”

However, the Special Adviser to the Edo State Governor on Media Projects, Crusoe Osagie, has lambasted the APC state chapter for faulting the government’s determination to end land-grabbing in the state.

He noted that the party and its leaders were afraid because they were the main culprits in the illegal enterprise and were scared that they would be caught in the web as the exercise progresses.

He said, “The APC in the state is jittery over the determination of Governor Obaseki to end land-grabbing in Edo, because they are the land-grabbers.

Obaseki left the APC mostly because of ideological disputes.”

“The party and its leaders are throwing temper tantrums today over the repossession exercise on the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe Road because, while in office, the APC and its chieftains promoted the appropriation of community land through the use of non-state actors and overlords, who were popularly known as lions and tigers in the run-up to the Edo State governorship election in 2020.