|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The people of Obeagu Awkunanwu community in Enugu South local government area of ENUGU State have stages a peaceful protest over an alleged “forceful” acquisition of their 1,097 hectares of land by a private investor.
[wonderplugin_video iframe=”https://youtu.be/lYnRIwGoNi8?si=K-avVOyMSZDcV6ko” lightbox=0 lightboxsize=1 lightboxwidth=960 lightboxheight=540 autoopen=0 autoopendelay=0 autoclose=0 lightboxtitle=”” lightboxgroup=”” lightboxshownavigation=0 showimage=”” lightboxoptions=”” videowidth=600 videoheight=400 keepaspectratio=1 autoplay=0 loop=0 videocss=”position:relative;display:block;background-color:#000;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto;” playbutton=”https://dometv.net/wp-content/plugins/wonderplugin-video-embed/engine/playvideo-64-64-0.png”]
They accused the private developer of using government machinery to develop and sell it’s ancestral lands without the consent of the community.
The people including; men , women and youths numbering over 2000 who protested in the disputed land, on Monday, chanted war songs, brandishing placards with various inscriptions including names of individuals and owners of the private investment company, together with past Enugu state government officials as perpetrators of the forceful acquisition of their land.The people lamented that they have been intimidated with security agents, their buildings demolished by state government agents the community alleged wore masks to commit the act.
Reacting to the development, the traditional Ruler of the community, HRH Igwe Mike Nnukwu said that the protest was all about the protracted case with the Enugu Lifestyle and Golf City, also known as Centenary City, that he alleged the community’s land was acquired illegally for the project.
The Monarch said: “They have dispossessed my community of land already given to the youths of tomorrow to build houses. We just woke up to see a company, Private Estates International West Africa, claiming that the vast land was allocated to it by the Sullivan Chime administration.
“What we know is that we gave land to the Jim Nwobodo administration to establish the permanent site of ASUTECH. We know it was 318 hectares of land but Nwobodo couldn’t actualize the dream, same as the military administrations that succeeded him. After Chimaroke Nnamani relocated ESUT to Agbani, the land was supposed to revert to us, but the PEIWA said it has been allocated to them and we said no because there was no conversation with us because we preferred government and not an individual company.
“It has been a terrible experience on our side that instead of 318 hectares it was blown up to 1,097 hectares and up till now the whole 12 villages in our community have been in delinma because we’re all affected by this illegal acquisition. The men behind all these are Festus Uzor and Kingsley Eze. There has been a synergy between these people to ensure that our God given land is taken away without our consent.
“We’re asking Governor Peter Mbah to come to our aid because these people are terrible people. How can they use a government agency to commit these destructions whereas the government is not really in it? So we plead with Governor Peter Mbah to give us a hearing ear so that we can come and explain to him. Moreso, we have given part of our land for the New Enugu City Project.”When contacted on the allege use of the state capital development authority to intimidate the people, the chairman of agency, Chief Uche Anya said they were only enforcing control as some people were building without approval.
