Anambra Community Leader Vows To Deal With Land Grabbers
The President General, PG, of Umuoji community, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State, Chief Silas Onyima, weekend vowed to deal with land grabbers in the community.
Onyima was reacting to a peaceful protest embarked upon by the people of Aguma village against the illegal activities of the land grabbers who were said to have encroached on about 150 plots of land located at Okofia which belong to Aguma people and and allegedly sold them.
The PG assured them that, “not even a plot that belongs to you, Aguma people will be lost to the land grabbers”.
“We are in democracy and you have the right to protest against whoever that encroaches on your land so long it is done in accordance with the law”.
He told them that, “who ever that sells land at Okofia which does not belong to him is a criminal and I am not in support of that person”
“My work as PG is to protect the entire Umuoji community. My life is at risk because of my efforts to protect our land from external aggression and I assure you that you will get your interest at Okofia”
The PG who hinted further that he does not have a plot at Okofia told them that, “God will not allow your land to be grabbed by those land grabbers when I am the PG and any of your land grabbed by them, I must recover it”
“Nobody will touch your land and anybody I see at Okofia land I will arrest him. The prison is meant for people like that”.
The PG pledged to visit the Okofia land within seven days with the view to seeing the alleged land grabbed as claimed by the Aguma people.
On those protecting the Okofia land Chief Onyima warned tham that, “I told them to protect Umuoji land and if that is not what they are doing I will fight them, I told them not to be involve in land grabbing”
The People of Aguma village who spoke through their chairman, Hon. Obinna Okafor, hinted that over 150 plots of land have been grabbed and sold off by the land grabbers.
“They sold about 150 plots of land and are planning to sell more and that is why we embarked on the protest from our Aguma village hall to the PG’s house for his immediate action against the land grabbers towards recovering our land”.
“I commend the PG for his vow in ensuring that land grabbers will not be allowed to take over our land at Okofia”
Also speaking, a community leader, Chief Ifeanyi Efobi, regretted that their land at Okofia would be encroached upon and sold without their consent.
He recalled that when they went to inspect and know the extent of the grabbing they were chased out and gun shot at them which resulted in some of them sustaining various degrees of bullet wound.
In his own contribution, the Chairman of the youth wing, Mr. Chukwuemeka Mekaowulu, said that, “with what the land grabbers are doing we may not have a place to build our houses if they are not
stopped as we don’t have land elsewhere”.
“The new age want to grab our only land where we farm and we will not allow them. That is why we urge the PG to come to our rescue by chasing away the land grabbers who drag the image of the community to the mud.”
