Farm owners in the Aso-Ayegunle area of Ado Ekiti on Wednesday staged a protest against the 4,000 hectares of land earmarked for the building of the proposed Ekiti Airport by Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The farmers, who rebuked the state government for destroying their crops, also accused the state government of not compensating them since initiating the project.
They described the destruction of their cocoa trees and other valuable crops by government without prior notice ‘as “wicked and callous.”
Asking the government to relocate the airport project to the state forest reserve, they alleged that some of their members had died from shock because of the government’s insensitivity to their plight.
However, the Commissioner for Information, Lanre Ogunsuyi, said the government had no plan to relocate the airport, saying all land in the state belong to government and that compensation will be made as appropriate.