Deaf, dumb persons protest illegal land acquisition by Oyo Government

Some deaf and dumb persons on Monday staged a peaceful protest against
what they termed as "illegal acquisition" of 20 acres of their land by
the Oyo State Government.

The angry protesters, DAILY POST, reports were led by the National
Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of Christian Mission for the
Deaf, Mr. Silas Ike.

Ike, while describing the acquisition as illegal, said the mission
bought 39 acres of land on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in 2004 with a
plan to build the first special university for the deaf and dumb in
the country and Africa on it.

The protesters, who stormed the Agodi Government Secretariat, carried
placards with various inscriptions, such as: "We need more than 39
acres for the proposed university"; "We want our land for proposed
university"; "Please, do not oppress the deaf"; "Do not resettle
people on our land", "We bought our land with donations from people."

Others read, "The deaf have rights to live better life"; "We need our
land for school"; "Oyo State government should not forcefully occupy
the deaf's land"; "We need our land for vocational training and deaf
university" and "The deaf are helpless, please."

However, Commissioner for Land and Housing, Mr. Isaac Omodewu, who
addressed the protesters, assured them that he would meet the
governor, who he said was out of the state, on the matter.

Omodewu assured the protesters of facilitating a meeting with their
representatives in the next one week.