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Former President Obasanjo recounts how village diplomacy averted Agbekoya protests against Land Use Decree
via Punch Nigeria4 min read
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo revealed how a pre-dawn tour of villages around Ibadan, advised by elder statesman Chief Adebo, helped prevent a planned protest by the Agbekoya movement against the 1978 Land Use Decree. Obasanjo stated that the decree faced significant opposition from both the North and South upon its promulgation during his military administration. When reports indicated the Agbekoya movement, a powerful farmers' association, was mobilizing for protests, Obasanjo sought counsel from Chief Adebo. Adebo advised direct engagement with the people. Obasanjo then undertook an overnight intervention, traveling from Lagos at 2 am to Ibadan before dawn to visit over a dozen villages and meet Agbekoya leaders in their homes by 8 am, explaining the policy directly. This direct engagement, he noted, successfully suppressed the protest, leading to the Land Use Act's enduring presence in Nigeria's constitutional framework. Obasanjo shared this anecdote at the public presentation of three books honoring former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar on his 84th birthday in Abuja. He used the story to emphasize the importance of consultation and direct engagement in governance, also crediting Abubakar, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the late Gen. Murtala Mohammed, and the late Lt-Col. Adekunle Fajuyi as military leaders crucial to Nigeria's survival and direction. President Bola Tinubu, as Special Guest of Honour, announced the allocation of land in Abuja for an Abdulsalami Abubakar
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Punch Nigeria.
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