Enugu Community Protests Alleged Land Grabbing

Residents of Obinagu Obeagu Akegbe in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State have staged a protest against an alleged forceful takeover and reallocation of their ancestral land.

The residents, under the umbrella of Obinagu Development Union, described the move as a “systematic land grabbing”. They accused the Enugu State Geographic Information System of being behind the plot.

The protesters marched from the disputed Lakeside Layout, Phases 1 and 2, to the Government House, Enugu, carrying placards bearing inscriptions like “Save Our Ancestral Land,” “Stop Land Grabbing Now,” and “Justice for Obinagu Community.”

The Chairman, Obinagu Development Union, Obeagu, Pastor Kingson Ndubueze, accused ENGIS of orchestrating the move to dispossess the community of over 9,000 plots of land.

According to him, the community complied with all statutory requirements, including submission of relevant documents to the agency for verification, but alleged that ENGIS failed to carry out the exercise.

Ndubueze said, “We followed every legal process to secure this land. All documents were duly processed and submitted for verification. To our greatest surprise, without any verification, we discovered that our land has been allocated to the Nigeria Police, who are already developing it.”

He claimed that the presence of security personnel on the land was being used to intimidate the landowners, and enable the unlawful acquisition of the property. He also questioned the transparency of the process, alleging that the land had been advertised for N25 million per plot.

According to him, “The police are being used as a shield to perfect this injustice. This is our ancestral land. We will not fold our arms and watch it taken without due process.”

He therefore called for the immediate intervention of Governor Peter Mbah to make justice prevail.

Quoting him, “We urge the governor to act swiftly. This issue could spiral. What we seek is justice, not conflict.”

Speaking on the matter, the Managing Director of ENGIS, Chiwetalu Nwatu, said the agency did not allocate the land in question to the police.

Nwatu said, “ENGIS did not allocate any land to the Nigeria Police in that area. Available records indicate that the police acquisition predates the current administration.”

Nwatu said the dispute was longstanding and involved multiple communities, including Obinagu Obeagu, Amauzam Obeagu and Akpug.

In his words, “This is not a straightforward matter. There are competing claims, and determining rightful ownership requires a comprehensive resolution.”

He called on all parties to adopt dialogues to find lasting peace in the matter.