Residents affected by the construction of the 110-kilometre Ibadan Circular Road (ICR) have served the Oyo State Government a seven-day ultimatum to rescind its plan to acquire an additional 850 metres of land for the project.

They warned that failure to comply would lead to a mega peaceful protest across six local government areas, where the road passed through.

At a world press conference in Ibadan, yesterday, the residents made it clear that they have accepted the initial 150 metres Right of Way (RoW) marked for the road but rejected the proposed ICR corridor, describing it as an attempt to displace and oppress thousands of people.

The affected people, under the aegis of 850 Meters Ibadan Circular Road Corridor Residents in Oluyole, Ona Ara, Egbeda, Lagelu Akinyele and Ido local government areas alleged that the state government planned to acquire additional 425 metres on the right and another 425 metres on the left, making a total of additional 850 metres.

They appealed to the government to maintain the original plan, stressing that any attempt to extend the road would affect hundreds of thousands of people negatively.

Spokesman of the residents, Mr Oladosu Olutayo, advised the government to maintain the 150 metres initially marked for the road, warning that the residents have had enough of the alleged oppression.

“We want the government to maintain the already marked 150 metres. The government should not acquire more land. No more corridors. They have already taken 150 metres. We don’t want our houses to be demolished,” Olutayo said.

The residents alleged that some government officials had been going around their communities to mark an additional 850 metres for the corridor of the road which they claimed was not part of the original plan.

The move to construct the Ibadan circular road was conceived when the current Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, was the governor and 150 metres was marked for the construction of the road at that time.

The residents pointed out that those whose houses fall within the 150 metres of the right of way, were well over 2,000 people and about 234 among them have been compensated so far.

They claimed that the government’s attempt to acquire more land without following the constitutional laid-down procedures is a shock, which has led to the death of some property owners.

The residents warned that if the government fails to address the issues raised within the seven-day ultimatum, they would embark on an indefinite mega peaceful protest to defend their constitutional rights.

The protest, they warned, would span across the six affected local government areas, and would potentially disrupt vehicular and human movements.

The residents called on Governor Makinde to fulfil his official order of no further demolition and to constitute a round table discussion with adequate and acceptable representation from all the six affected local governments on the circular road. (The Sun)