Anambra nonagenarian leads protest in communal land dispute

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By Madu Obi

A ninety -six year old man, Elder Stephen Okoye, on Wednesday led hundreds of people of Umuenu in Umuawulu, Awka South local government area of Anambra State, to protest an alleged move by the state Deputy Governor, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, to intervene in a land matter that had since been decided by the Supreme Court.

Speaking during the protest, Okoye, who is the eldest man in Umuenu Quarters of Umuawulu, said their neighbours, Enugwu Quarters, have been fighting over the Agu Umuenu land because it is very fertile.

In an emotion- laden voice, Okoye said the greed to grab people's land was not like that when he was growing up and prayed God not to allow them succeed.

He said: "This land dispute started during the colonial era and after a protracted litigation, it was acknowledged that Umuenu is the owner of the land. We are surprised that people who are not indigenous to this area should be claiming our land."

According to him, the people of Enugwu , which is one of the three quarters in Umuawulu, served as witnesses to the people of Awgbu when they were in court over the land and wondered how they should turn round to claim that the land belongs to them and going to the extent of writing a petition to the Deputy Governor to intervene.

"Enugwu people are only trying to ignite crisis in Umuawulu. They are not original people of Umuawulu and we wonder how they want to claim land that was there before they came and we gave them where they live.

"They want to manipulate the issue by using the Deputy Governor because he is in charge of boundary disputes in the state. It is dangerous to twist this matter and the Deputy Governor should not be talking of sharing our land after all the courts have decided on the matter", the nonagenarian said.

Going down memory lane, the President of Umuenu Quarters Assembly, Mr Bernard Mbolu, said that litigation over the land lingered from local authority court to customary court from 1927 and it got to the Supreme Court which decided on the matter in 1963 when it was decided in favour of Umuenu Quarters .

He added: "We are the rightful owners of the land known as Agu Udo Umuoma and Agu ofuu, which were collectively named Agu Umuenu. There is no other quarter contesting the ownership of the land with us until 2020.

"During the litigation, Enugwu quarter was testifying in favour of Awgbu that they were the rightful owners of the land. When we defeated Awgbu in court and Awgbu people wanted us to have a permanent boundary demarcation , we did and signed a Memorandum of Understanding MoU with them.

"Surprisingly, Enugwu people invaded the land after they had testified for Awgbu people that it was their land. That was why we took the matter to Igwe - in -Council and the then President General of Umuawulu, Ozo I.K Nkala set up a 20 - man committee, with Umuenu and Enugwu quarters nominating 10 members each, while the neutral quarter, Agbana, produced the chairman, Professor Ezenwaji , with Cyril Ezeofor was the secretary.

"After hearing from the two quarters, the committee decided that the land is owned by Umuenu people. Surprisingly, Enugwu people rejected the decision and in 2024 when our people went there to farm in line with the court decision, they attacked our people with dangerous weapons and in the process, cut off the hand of one of our brothers, Mr Humphrey Obi who later died following the injuries he sustained during the attack."