Women protest forceful acquisition of ancestral land

The Nation reports that Women of Nsude community in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State have staged a peaceful protest over an alleged forceful acquisition of ancestral land at Amozibe and Umuez]ani villages of the community.

The women held aloft placards with different inscriptions such as, “This land does not belong to Ifueke Okweuwani, “Government, please, leave our land, “This property belongs to Nsude, “This land does not belong to Ngwo, “Beware of land grabbers”, among others. They said they were not happy that the government acquired their land in the name of Ngwo community without consulting them.

They urged the government to return the land in question to them, saying they had already shared the plots of lands to their children as their inheritance.

The traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Ken Onyia, told reporters that some people from two communities in neighbouring Ngwo, who go by the title of stakeholders, claimed that the land which allegedly belongs to the two villages in Nsude belongs to Ifueke Ngwo. He said the so-called stakeholders deceived the government into believing that the parcel of land belongs to Ifueke Okweuwani in Ngwo.

He said though they have boundary with them, the areas in question was surveyed, registered and published in the gazette of Old Anambra State which dates back to 1991.

According to him, when the news of the arrangement came to the two communities, Amozibe and Umuezani, they went to Udi Local Government Chairman and presented documents that proved that the land belongs to Nsude people.

He also disclosed that they also went to Enugu Commissioner for Lands to give the facts of ownership of the place to him with documents to show, continuing that during one of those visits, they invited authentic attorneys for Ifueke to accompany them to the commissioner’s office.

The traditional ruler  explained that the attorneys told the commissioner that that those people that claimed to be stakeholders were not representing the Ifueke people as far as the land management was concerned, adding that all their efforts met brick wall as the commissioner continued with the arrangement for the acquisition of the land.

He noted that the during the flag off of the present 9th mile bypass or Nsude Ngwo Bypass through the land in question,  he was the person that presented the welcome address to the governor and his entourage.

The royal father stressed that traditionally “it is not known that a traditional ruler will present a welcome address in a land that does not belong to his community”.

He expressed dismay that despite all the efforts to prove that the land in question belongs to two villages in Nsude Community, (Amozibe and Umuezani), the government went ahead to issue a Certificate of Occupancy to a private company for the Nsude land in the name of Ngwo people.

The retired academic don pointed out that there was no land dispute between Nsude and Ngwo people, adding that their understanding of the land use act and powers of the government to acquire land against the wishes of the owners is when there is dispute between communities or that the land will be acquired by overriding interest and not to be given to private concerns.

The royal father further hinted that the laid out areas have been shared and given to all male adults in the two villages above the age of 18 as their inheritance, adding that some of them have sold their plots to other parties.

“Our demand is that the government should not take our land through Ngwo people when we don’t have any disputes with them. The layout has been bulldozed. Our land should be given back to us and the layout restored to its original state”.

The Traditional Ruler noted that his community has never been stingy with donation of lands for developmental purposes either by the government or private concerns, recalling that   the community had earlier donated land for international market, A Catholic Seminary, among others.

“We also note that Nsude community has never been stingy with donations of land for developmental purposes either by government or private concerns. For Example, Nsude community donated land for an uncompleted international market; we also donated land for the building of a catholic seminary,” he noted.