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By Chinelo Ogbodo (Enugu State Correspondent)

It was great relieve amidst initial suspense, on Thursday last week (January 30th, 2025), as the Enugu State High Court presided over by his Lordship, Justice Ajah, granted a perpetual order restraining the Enugu State Government and it's agency, the Enugu State Housing Corporation (ESHDC) and the state ministry of lands and urban development, from trespassing into a 34.4 acres of ancestral land belonging to the Umuatugbu Oma community in Nkanu West Local Government Area of the state.

Justice Aja, also in his injunction, ordered the aggrieved community to stay clear of the land known as OFIAUKWU for any activity whatsoever, pending the final determination of the ownership of the disputed land which case is currently before him.

The people of Umuatugbu Oma, through their lead counsel, Chief Fidelis Mbadugha, SAN, had, late last year (2024), dragged the Enugu State Government and it's agency, the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC), the state commissioner for land and urban development and their agents to court over the alleged forceful take over of their land allegedly without due process and established protocol in Umuatugbu Oma.

According to the community claims, the alleged land grabbing act by the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation grossly violated all established protocols in Umuatugbu Oma. The community told the court during the opening hearing of the case, that the established order in the community is for interested developers who come to either partner or invest in the community's land to open discussion with them leading to a final consensus by both parties.

However the defendants, the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC) and their agents, in their defence deposed in a statement of defense through their counsel, Dr Anayo Ede Esq. and in answer to the claims by the people of Umuatugbu Oma, deposed that the plaintiff community (people of Umuatugbu oma), through some families, donated the land to the Enugu State Government through an estate developer for a mass housing estate for the people of Enugu State and Nigeria government.

Dr Anayo Ede, also in his defence statement, stated that his clients had paid the sum of N10 million as compensation to each of the heads of the identified families who owed and donated the land to his clients . In addition, he stated that the sum of N120,000, in monetization, was equally paid as fee for the traditional "ikpa nri ani " to each of the families as demanded by them.

Though these and more claims in the defence statement and yet to be argued, the presiding judge, Justice Aja, however ruled in a perpetual injunction given, that both parties should maintain the status quo ante and that none of them should trespass into the land pending the final determination of the case, except for carrying out a dispute survey of the Land in contention.

The case has been adjourned to Tuesday, March 4th, 2025 for further hearing.

Recall that serious tension had brewed in Enugu state early August last year when the government through it's housing corporation and in collaboration with the Enugu state Ministry of Lands, forcefully took over the massive OFIAUKWU ancestral land belonging to the Umuatugbu Oma, a near Nkanu West community to the Enugu metropolis.

For several weeks running, the small community drew battle with the State Government at it's housing agency over alleged land grabbing of their ancestral land located at Onu Nyama. The community contends the ancestral property in question is a heritage from their ancestors for their children and posterity.

They argues that contrary to the claims in the media by the Enugu State Government through its agency that the land asset was donated to the ESHDC by the community for building an estate, the said land was forcefully taken over from them through a combination of sheer subterfuge and brute force in collaboration with some unidentified individuals.

The aggrieved community was highly miffed that it was a ploy by the Enugu State Government's agency known as the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC) to crudely acquire their land which, according to them, the ESHDC allegedly labeled as "a den for kidnappers and terrorists", a comment the community found offensive and had viewed as "malicious" against them, just to give the state government a smooth sail to achieve their acquisition intention.

The people of Umuatugbu Oma also accused the state government and its housing development agency of illicit collaboration with some unnamed individuals said to be working against the interest of the community to grab their ancestral land without prio discussion, negotiation and agreement to procure the Onu Nyama land for whatever purpose, under a mutual deal terms which is a proper and acceptable practice.

The community stated that they were so infuriated when they learnt about the alleged secret land grabbing exercise by the government through it's agency, the ESHDC, in a media report published on July 7, 2024 in the Sunnewsonline of SUN Newspaper Group, and headlined: "Enugu Community Lauds Mba Over ESHDC Resolve To Site Housing Scheme On Area".

They insist that the news report was a misleading information sponsored by the state government which they swore, had no such land deal with the community or its appointed representative. The people of Umuatugbu Oma also stated that though it had donated its lands in the past to the Enugu State Government for public interest purposes, such purposes was a willful gesture by the community which was well discussed and mutually agreed upon for community development sake and not for private or commercial reasons.

The community however dismissed as orchestrated intentional fraud and propaganda, the claim by the Enugu government that the alleged land grabbing scandal was designed to rid the community of the nefarious activities of criminals since the government had already labelled the controversial land as 'a den of robbers and kidnappers'.

The community equally insists that two individuals, one Elder Philip Nnam and Mr Valentine Okoh, described as a 'faceless security officers' who allegedly justified government's claims that the community voluntarily donated the land to the ESHDC, were neither indigenes nor tenants in Umuatugbu Oma community.

However, 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, had maintained that there was never a time the people of Umuatugbu Oma, as landlord of the said land, jointly entered into any agreement/Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to wilfully donate the said hectares of land, as claimed, by the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC).

They argue that the alleged malicious allegations by elders Philip Nnam and Val. Okoh, who they described as "unknown" 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 to the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, ESHDC.

They further stated that the "green vegetation and the land was never a den for kidnappers and terrorists. This claim is a malicious and negative indictment on the good people of Umuatugbu Oma".

The community representatives further called on the governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mba, to urgently intervene to save the community from the hands of those they described as "faceless land grabbers working in conjunction with ESHDC" to disposes them of their land.

They pointed out that the people of Umuatugbu Oma had been very cooperative and open handed in welcoming government in the past, often with mutual understanding. They however wondered how the same Enugu 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!

It is on record that in the past, the Umuatugbu Oma community had made land donations to the government for public purposes. Such land donations, were for the building of two schools. One is for establishing St Francis Catholic School and Methodist School now known as Akpasha Comprehensive Secondary School in Umuatugbu Oma. Another land was also wilingly made available to government by the community through families for the building of a Catholic Cottage Hospital opposite St Francis Catholic Church.

Another of such land donations by the community was for the site for building a defunct Brewery which was donated through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Umuatugbu Oma community and the old Anambra State Government. Again, the land upon where Awkunanaw Development Centre Headquarters is cited was given to the government collectively by the Umuatugbu Oma.

The land upon which the defunct Nigerian Bricks Company was built with their burrow pits was again donated by the community and also with an MOU. Parts of the MOU were the initial payment of compensation to some owners in addition with agreement for employment of the people of Umuatugbu Oma. NNL.

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