For the second time in two days, soldiers from the 323 Artillery Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Owena Barracks, Akure, Ondo State on Thursday invaded the premises of Progress Wood factory located in frontof their barracks.
In response to the development, GovernorOlusegun Mimiko summoned the Commanding Officer, Col. S. Nwafor, to his office for discussion.
In the latest case, they allegedly besiegedthe company over the press interview the Chief Executive Officer of the firm, Mr. Akintunde Adebiyi, granted on their previous invasion on Tuesday.
Some soldiers from the barracks had on Tuesday stormed the factory and allegedly vandalised property worth N5m.
Adebiyi, in an interviewwith our corespondent on Thursday claimed that the soldiers pulleddown the factory’s windows and roof.
He said, “They destroyed our administrative office, pulled down the aluminum windows, and destroyed the roofof the factory. The whole place was flooded as a result of the downpour in the town in the early hoursof Thursday.”
Apparently miffed by the development, Mimiko invited Nwafor to his office.
The meeting, accordingto a top government official, was going on at the time of filing this report.
The source said, “The governor is meeting with the Commanding Officer, the Chief of Staff and the officials of the Ministry of Land and Housing. I think there will be an official reaction after the meeting.”
Adebiyi had said the soldiers pulled down the factory’s fence and a part of its wall over his refusal to givemoney to the officers in charge of the barracks.
He alleged that the management of the barracks had been extorting money from him on the pretence that they were providing security for the area.
However, Nwafor said some soldiers went to the factory because it was built on land belonging to the Army.
He said, “Adebiyi had been paying rents on the land for sometime now before he suddenly came with a letter from his lawyer, saying that he would not pay again as the land is not owned by the Army.”
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