Save my soul!!
A nonagenarian, Ogande Akya Doma cried out to the GOC of Doma Military Barracks Penultimate week, over what he described as an attempt by a military officer, Musa Gidado to take over his farmland situated opposite the Military Barracks in Doma.
Since the fateful encounter, he said life appeared to be gradually ebbing out of him being his only means of livelihood.
The 92-year-old farmer and now distraught father of 37 children with over 70 grand and great-grandchildren was visibly worried and traumatized as he lamented his ordeal at the time of filing this report.
The nonagenarian stated that he got the shock of his life on the fateful day of 28th September, 2023 at home in about afternoon time when two of his sons, Atakwe and Ishaleku rushed home to inform him about an encounter with the officer who ordered them to vacate the land.
The Officer gave this order at the Barracks having summoned them through his emissary.
What baffled him, he stated was that he never met the said Officer nor had he any issue with the military to warrant such a directive.
As the situation stands, he lives under fear of the unknown since the Officer never deemed it necessary to come to him but was quick and non-committal to issue a threat to deal with whoever enters the farmland henceforth.
Providing a historical brief, he stated that his land is customary land inherited from his father who deforested the land and had farmed on it and thereafter, he took over after his father’s death, a period that spanned over 150 years.
Moreover, in line with the requirement of modernity, he said that he approached the then Village head of Doma, Ada Akabe Oshigada, and later the Local Government Authority who validated his right of ownership of the farmland which Gidado threatened to deal with him and his children if they dare set foot on.
If Gidado or any person or persons using him intend to contest this fact I expect, with their level of training and education they should know the right channels to lodge their complaint rather than resorting to brute force that has no place in today’s justice system.
He further narrated that he lived, for the most part of his life tilling the soil of that farmland under severe scorching of the sun and heavy rainfall both day and night trying to make ends meet before the Officer was borne.
And through this effort, he and the children have been saved from the anguish of begging for alms on the streets. Perhaps, that he is not a pauper begging for food is the only ass the officer and his traducers have to grind with him.
He asked; is that what is making the Officer and his likes angry? Please they should come out clean and provide the answer. He contended that the piece of the farmland is the only legacy he has to bequeath to the next generation.
In Doma and especially to men of his generation, he stated that farming is not a vocation but a culture, it is life in itself and when you take away land from us, indeed you have taken away the entire humanity.
It is for this reason that I call on the GOC of Doma Military Barracks to SAVE MY SOUL from a land-grabbing officer like Gidado who is poised to damage the hard-earned reputation of the military in Doma.
We are in a democratic era, if he has any genuine claim to the piece of land he gave my children order to vacate, there are more than enough channels of redress available to a man of enormous powers like him to take than resorting to this seemingly archaic and uncivilized path that has no place in the ongoing nexus of military vs civilian relations.
Accordingly, the nonagenarian who contended that he has seen it all in life, posited that Nigeria has gone through a lot of security challenges and he commends the proactive approach of the GOC and his officers to address some of these challenges.
As a father, he said that he prays that Almighty God blesses officers who have keyed into this noble vision of the military and are doing Nigeria proud.
