:Accuses Developers of Land Grabbing
Panic and anxiety have enveloped Umuezuo community in Owerri North local government area as residents of the community engaged in a heavy clash with Real Estate Developers, Marybas consultants. This is even as community accused the said Estate Developers of land grabbing.
It was gathered that trouble started last week when the estate developers were alleged to have forcefully entered into the community land claiming to be government appointed contractors and consultants for the construction of a new industrial park.
According to a resident who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity “Sometimes last month, our traditional ruler called the elders of Umuezuo village informing us that one estate developer, Wuches , wrote and informed him that they have been appointed by the state government as contractors to construct an industrial park in our Uhuelu land, that, forty plots of land in Uhuelu have been allocated to them by the state government for the same purpose. The traditional ruler told them that he will get back to them after proper confirmation. The traditional ruler wrote to the Ministry of Commerce and industry where it was confirmed from the Ministry that there was no such approval from the government to any real estate developers”.
“Few days later, another group came to the traditional ruler also claiming that they were appointed by the state government as contractors and consultants to build industrial park in Uhuelu land( New Naze industrial layout), that, about thirty hectares of land have been allocated to them by the state government for the building of the industrial park. We told them to give us two weeks to verify and confirm the authenticity of their information. Two days after, the Traditional Ruler called the elders again in his palace informing us that the same people said they will return the following day to show us the exact size of land at Uhuelu allocated to them by the state government. When they came the following day, they were no more talking about building of abattoir extension, they were rather talking about building of industrial park. After that day, we held another meeting with them at the Eze’s palace where they told us that there will be harmonization and compensation of those that have houses and portion of land in that place by the government. To our greatest surprise, two days later, the group came with full armed policemen, clearing equipment and some people suspected to be staff of OCDA, forcefully entered into the Uhuelu land to clear the place. This attracted the attention of the entire community, later they were resisted by the youths, they all ran away”. Meanwhile, the proposed abattoir project has been relocated to another site within the same vicinity and is ongoing.
However, the community is also accusing the same estate developers, Marybas consulting, of attempting to grab their land in 2017 but were resisted by the Youths and warned them to keep off from their land.
“They should keep off from our land or be ready to face our wrath. If they are real government contractors and consultants as they are claiming, they should follow due process of acquisition of land from indigenous owners rather than the reckless abandonment of established principles of the land use Act. If government is involved, there are procedures and processes of acquisition of land for overriding public interest, government should follow the process and formally communicate the land owners” opined by one of the leaders of the community. He further added ” we are not against Government acquiring public land but the purpose for such acquisition must be for overriding public interest and due process must be followed through negotiation and understanding, anything short of that will be seen as an act of suppression”.
When contacted, the representative of Marybas Consulting said they are government appointed consultants with approval to build industrial park in the area. “We were appointed by the ministry of commerce and industry to build industrial park in the land. The land belongs to the government”
However, contrary to the information by Marybas Consultants that the land belongs to the state government, page 247b of Government Whitepaper report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on Lands And Related Matters (2006-2019) identified the said New Naze industrial layout as one among those layouts created in violation of the original Master plan
Efforts made to reach the Commissioner for Lands to get the commission’s side of the story proved abortive.
Also, all attempts to contact the traditional ruler of the community, HRH Eze Francis Ugorji proved abortive as he was unable to pick his calls at the time of filing this report.
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