Deaf students petition Governor Makinde over acquisition of land

By: Ola Ajayi, Ibadan

Deaf students and the management of the Christian School Mission for the Deaf have petitioned Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State over the alleged forceful acquisition of part of their 39-acre land by the former administration in the state pleading with the governor to cancel the unpopular directive.

Makinde

The school is presently located at the Onireke government reservation area in Ibadan.

While pleading with Governor Makinde to rescind the acquisition order to further convince the people of the state that he is committed to improving the standard of education in the state, they stressed that the former administration had turned deaf ears to their numerous pleas that they bought the parcel of land from the fund they raised from their little resources.

The school was established in 1960 has changed the fortune of thousands of deaf students who should have been roaming the streets begging for alms.

Instead of alleviating their trauma as a result of their challenge, they maintained that they had struggled to get the land to establish the first university for the deaf in Africa.

They called on Governor Makinde to allow them to benefit from his “milk of human kindness” which others have been enjoying since he assumed power.

In the petition signed by Administrator of the school, Mr. Peter Obadare, the hearing impaired students said after their initial protest to the governor’s office about two years ago, the then Commissioner for Lands, Mr. Isaac Omodewu had promised that the state government would have a rethink on the acquisition order.

“The Commissioner said the governor had approved the release of their land only to discover later that the same government started building two mini houses for the villagers who were displaced by the establishment of Technical University”.

“We want your Excellency to look into the whole matter as we suspect some fraudulent dealings in the issue. We want your administration to dig deep into this matter as the land was purchased from hard-earned funds to better the lot of the deaf in the society”.

“We can hardly point at any support from successive governments and it is most disheartening that government would still be eyeing what belongs to us”.

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