The Ondo State Government, on Wednesday, absolved itself of any connection with the arrest of some farmers in its Ofosu forest in the Idanre Local Government Area of the state.
The Senior Special Assistant to the state Governor on Agric and Agribusiness, Wemimo Akinsola, stated this while speaking with newsmen in Akure.
Akinsola, who is also the Chairman of the Ondo State Committee on Agriculture and Food Security, said the current government was farmer-friendly and would not do such, particularly during this trying period.
The governor’s aide said he had been inundated with several calls from lawyers of the farmers erroneously claiming that his office ordered the arrest of farmers in the Ofosu forest.
He said that the government was working tirelessly to resolve all contentious issues with farmers that had been existing in the past and would not do anything to compound the already tense situation.
Akinsola said that though the issues that led to the farmer's arrest were not clear, he got the hint that their arrest might not be unconnected with not joining a certain cocoa association.
“We got a report that some people were going into the forest, arresting people, farmers, this morning.
“We just want to make it clear, the governor has not given any instruction for anybody to arrest anybody over anything.
“We are in a situation where we’re trying to settle issues with our farmers, who we were having problems with.
“We need our farmers to cooperate with the government, and we want our farmers on the farms not in police stations or police cells,” he said.
Akinsola, who described the report of the farmer's arrest as disheartening, said that the major preoccupation of the government at this period was ending food insecurity in the land.
“We have been trying as much as possible to end this food insecurity, which is a global phenomenon, and we don’t need any of these, not at all,” he said.