The people of Umuatugbu Oma, a community in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State, have decried the forceful take over of their land located at Onu Nyama by the Enugu State Government through its agency, the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC).
The community is highly miffed by what it described as “malicious comments” by some individuals allegedly working in cahoots with the Enugu State Government in the said Onu Nyama land grabbing scandal by describing the land as “a den for kidnappers and terrorists” just to enable them illegally acquire the land hectares from the helpless community.
Serious tension began to mount in Umuatugbu Oma Community recently when a media report in the July 7, 2024, Sunnewsonline portal and headlined: “Enugu Community Lauds Mba Over ESHDC Resolve To Site Housing Scheme On Area”, allegedly portrayed, rather erroneously, that the community’s land was genuinely procured by the government.
But the spokesperson for the Umuatugbu Oma community, Barrister Amechi Ugwu, however, claimed that the Enugu state government, through its agency and proxies, never approached the community on the possibility of acquiring the large hectares of land in question, which he also revealed, was an ancestral land that belonged to many families in Umuatugbu Oma. He stated that the claim by the state government that the land is “a den of kidnappers and terrorists’ was false, as the people of the community viewed the claim as an orchestrated plot/ploy to forcefully acquire the land for unspecified reasons from the community.
While lamenting the situation in his Umuatugbu Oma community, Ugwu appealed to the Enugu state governor, Dr Peter Mba, to save his people the anguish of losing their age long land asset from being taken away from them by restraining the officials and agents of his government from brazenly and clandestinely appropriating their community land through bare-faced grabbing.
Ugwu who described the alleged action of the officials of the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC) and their collaborators as “desperate land grabbers”, however debunked the allegations that the said land was a haven for kidnappers and terrorists. He vehemently maintains that this allegation was a malicious conspiracy by the ESHDC to tarnish the image of the community in the alleged land grabbing quest.
Barrister Amechi Ugwu also stated that the land measuring about 34.4 hectares belonging to Umuatugbu Oma community remained the only heritage for their children and was never donated to the government wilfully as alleged by the unidentified donors.
He equally said that Elders Philip Nnam and Mr Val Okoh, two faceless security officers justifying the claim that the said community land was voluntarily donated the government, were neither indigenes nor tenants in Umuatugbu Oma community.
Corroborating the position of the community’s spokesman, Barrister Amaechi Ugwu, some representatives of the entire Umuatugbu Oma community namely: Dr Josephat Ani, Chief Anthony Ogbodo, Chief Ezekiel Ogbodo, Chief Earnest Nwobodo, Elder Michael Ewo and Mr Onyekachi Ogbodo, maintained that there was never a time the people of Umuatugbu Oma, as landlords of the said land, jointly entered into any agreement/Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government or its agency or proxy to wilfully donate the parcel of land, as claimed, by the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC).
They maintained that the alleged malicious allegations by elders Philip Nnam and Val. Okoh, who they described as “unknown” to the community, and who claims that the land was given out willingly to the Enugu State government to secure the community against the nefarious activities by the so-called criminals in the area, was totally untrue and a mere conspiracy by the alleged desperate grabbers to trade off the land illegally to the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, ESHDC.
They said that the “green vegetation and the land was never a den for kidnappers and terrorists. This is a malicious and negative indictment on the good people of Umuatugbu Oma”.
The community’s representatives further called on the governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mba, to urgently intervene to save the community from the “hands of faceless land grabbers working in conjunction with the ESHDC” to disposes them of their land.
However, in separate reactions to the raging land donation dispute, some prominent citizens of the community, General C. S Ugwu, a retired top military officer and Dr Josephat Ani and other leaders of the community, denounced the activities of the alleged land grabbers said to be working with the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC) against the general interests of Umuatugbu Oma over their community’s ancestral land.
They pointed out that the people of Umuatugbu Oma had been very cooperative and open handed in welcoming governments in the past, often with mutual understanding. They however wondered how the same State Housing Development Corporation that had previously and legitimately acquired a land within the community named Rangers Estate (which is yet to be developed, but selling same to private developers at will), would invade the community’s land again without due process, to forcefully acquire another 34.4 hectares of land for another Housing estate.
“This is pure injustice that beats one’s imagination. If this new acquisition is for school, industry or hospital, and with the inputs and mutual understanding of the community, one would understand”.
They accused a member of the community (name withheld) of stirring the crisis, but advised the angry youths of the community to be calm in the interim and not to take laws in their hands.
They added that their action was “a ploy to create crisis to justify their evil intentions.” The community’s eminent leaders also stressed that the alleged malicious tag of their peaceful community land as “a den for kidnappers and terrorists “, was simply designed to rubbish and discredit the Umuatugbu Oma community in order to demolish the land and reclaim it.
However, the prime minister of the traditional cabinet government known as the Onowu of the community, Chief Augustine Nwobodo, expressed dismay at the unfolding crisis in Umuatugbu Oma, especially the tag on the community as a base for criminals, was not only untrue, too denigrating but absolutely infradig on the people of the area.
The Onowu noted that the Igwe-in-Council were surprised at such alleged malicious comment against the community and are currently investigating the circumstances of that unfortunate development. He assured that “very soon, the Igwe-in-council shall come out with their position and solution to this matter”. He ,however , appealed to all aggrieved citizens of the community to be calm and vigilant!.
