Ex-Commissioner Allegedly Beat Up Journalist Over Land

Alhaji Tajudeen Olamide Arowolo, a former two-time Commissioner in Ekiti State, has been accused of violently assaulting female journalist Elizabeth Bamidele over a land dispute.

The altercation reportedly took place in Ado Ekiti on October 30, 2024, when Arowolo, accompanied by alleged land grabbers, confronted Bamidele about a parcel of land she owns.

While narrating her ordeal at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Press Centre in Ado Ekiti on Thursday, Bamidele, who reported the incident to the police, stated that Arowolo and his associates attacked her for preventing them from trespassing on her property, where she has lived since completing her house in 2020.

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She alleges that during the confrontation, Arowolo struck her with a stick, leaving her fearful for her safety and that of her three children.

Following the attack, she said she reached out to the Governor of Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji, seeking intervention against what she described as the ongoing harassment from land grabbers.

The journalist explained that she purchased the land from Evangelist Obafemi Oladele in 2011, and has been trying to resolve the dispute with Arowolo and his group, who claim ownership of the land.

Bamidele expressed her concern about the threats to her life and urged the authorities to ensure her protection.

Despite the police’s intervention, Bamidele claims that Arowolo has continued to disturb her peace.

“She Is Not Mentally Stable” – Ex Commissioner

Arowolo, on his part, has denied the allegations, asserting that Bamidele is not mentally stable and accusing her of purchasing the land from someone who did not own it.

He said, “If you look at the mental state of the lady, you will realise that she is not mentally stable.

“If you also look at the statement she wrote at the police station, you will know that she has also indicted herself already.”

 

Arowolo queried how she would defy the order of the police in respect of the land in question.

He accused the victim of buying the land from somebody who stole the land, adding: “We told her that the land in question does not belong to the person from whom she bought it.

“We also reported her to the police station so we would not take the laws into our own hands.”

When asked if she was truly beaten with a stick, as she alleged, Arowolo, responding, challenged journalists to ask her to show the parts of her body that were injured.

He said as a two-time former Commissioner in Ekiti State, he knows the values of human beings and would not do such things.

He alleged that the woman was the first person to hold one of his boys during the fight and she could have sustained injuries in the process when they were being separated.

Arowolo said further that in her statement at the Police Headquarters, she also showed clearly that she was the one who initially held onto one of his boys.