Despite the hostility she described, the businesswoman said the majority of her employees are from the host community.
A young Igbo businesswoman has raised the alarm over what she described as sustained ethnic persecution, vandalism and theft targeted at her agricultural business in Osun State, saying repeated appeals to law enforcement have yielded no meaningful response.
In a highly emotional video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by @General_Somto, the woman, whose identity has not been officially confirmed, said she has suffered losses running into millions of naira following repeated attacks on her farmland and processing facilities.
“What is being done to me here in Osun is pure tribal bullying because I am Igbo,” she said. “Even the police are not doing anything about it. This has been happening repeatedly.”
She claimed that suspected locals have repeatedly invaded her farmland, destroyed equipment and carted away machines worth over ₦10 million.
“They have stolen my farming equipment worth more than ₦10 million,” she said. “They vandalised my palm oil processing machine, my cassava processing machine, poultry equipment, and even my generator.”
“This Has Happened Several Times Since I Moved To Osun State. My Farmland Is Regularly Invaded By Locals In My Area Because I Am Igbo. They Have Destroyed My Equipment, Stolen My Generator, And Vandalised My Property. I Have Reported These Incidents To The Police Repeatedly, But… pic.twitter.com/HQ8W0e4DUx
— Somto Okonkwo (@General_Somto) January 19, 2026
The woman alleged that the attacks are deliberate and motivated by her ethnic identity.
“They are trying to drive me out and take over my land because I am Igbo,” she said. “Each time I report the case, it is rubbished because I am not an indigene.”
She further claimed that she has been barred from selling her farm produce in local markets, saying, “I have also been prevented from selling my goods in the market simply because I am Igbo.”
Despite the hostility she described, the businesswoman said the majority of her employees are from the host community.
“Seventy percent of my workers are from this place,” she said. “I am not owing anybody. Even when they don’t work out their pay, I still pay them because I like to put smiles on people’s faces.”
She added that she has gone beyond paying salaries, saying, “I pay school fees for many of their children. I feed people and make them happy, yet they still organise to steal and vandalise the same company that is feeding them.”
Recounting a recent incident, she said one suspect was apprehended after an attempted theft.
“The day we were going for arrest, we caught one of them while others ran away. That person is still in police custody,” she said, adding that previous cases had been suppressed.
She said the repeated attacks have left her financially strained.
“The debts these criminals put me into last year, I have never come out of it, and they have started again,” she lamented. “I don’t even have money to replace many of the machines they carried.”
The woman insisted that she legally owns the land, stressing that it is neither rented nor under dispute.
“The land belongs to me. I paid in full,” she said. “They even charged me extra because I am not an indigene, including money for trees I didn’t need, and I still paid.”
She alleged that despite the sale, people continue to farm on the land without her consent. “After selling land to me, they will still come back to plant on it and steal from me,” she said.
Declaring her resolve to fight back legally, she said, “I refuse to be bullied. I am not going to keep quiet again. I will make sure everyone involved in this stealing and vandalisation is held accountable.”
“I am just a young girl working hard to make a life for myself,” she added. “I must do everything possible within the law to protect my business.”
Meanwhile, efforts by SaharaReporters to obtain comments from the Osun State Police Command were unsuccessful, as the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Abiodun Zechariah, could not be reached at the time of filing this report.
Text messages requesting a response also went unanswered.
The video has continued to generate widespread reactions online, reigniting conversations about ethnic discrimination, property rights and the safety of non-indigenes doing business across Nigeria.