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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The people of Umuekpili, a village in Ula community, Ekwulobia, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State, recently took to the streets in the community to protest what they termed a plot by the State Boundary Committee to tamper with their land at Aguakwali and Aguudonka.
The village has been having a dispute over land with a neighbouring community, Obinabo Nkpologwu, for about 100 years, which had seen both parties at the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. At the apex court, Umuekpili village got a judgement dismissing the application against them. The court also awarded the sum of N300,000 against the applicants, Nkpologwu community.
But the people of Umuekpili recently alleged that the boundary committee had been compromised by the Nkpologwu community to start the demarcation of the land. This, they said, was happening even after they had presented the Supreme Court judgement on the land to the committee in Awka.
About 1,000 persons from the community, comprising men, women, youths and children, marched round the land, singing and praying. They vowed that nobody would be allowed to take over their ancestral land, which their forefathers left for them.
They carried placards with various inscriptions. Some of the placards read “State Boundary Committee should stay clear of our land,” “State Boundary Committee has set aside Supreme Court verdict,” “State Boundary Committee is the apex court of Nigeria,” “Those who hatched this evil plot should be ready to take responsibility,” “We are ready to die for our land,” “This land belongs to Umuekpili community,” “The oldest man in this village who died three years ago at the age of 105 lived on this land,” and “We will not allow the State Boundary Committee to enter into our ancestral land because we have Supreme Court verdict on the land.”
The leader of the protesters and the chairman of Umuekpili Development Union, Nze Arinze Onebunne, wondered why their neighbours allegedly connived with the boundary committee to take the land after the Supreme Court had ruled on the matter.
He said that his village had been the owner of the land over the years, adding that over 100 households had been living on the land for over 100 years, and that the same land houses filling stations, hotels and guest houses.
Onebunne said: “Why we are protesting is what we heard from a radio announcement that the state boundary committee is coming any moment from now to demarcate the land between us and our neighbouring community Obinabo Nkpologwu. The committee did not give us fair hearing before they started talking about inspection and indirectly talking about demarcation. What are they demarcating? Our great grandfathers were buried on this land over 500 years ago.
“We don’t have a boundary matter with Nkpologwu community because a road demarcated us. But they just jumped into our land and started claiming it, and the case lingered in court for many years. On February 16, 2018, five justices of the Supreme Court decided on the matter and dismissed their case, saying that the land belongs to us. The question is, is the boundary committee superior to the Supreme Court? They should seek interpretation if they don’t understand the verdict of the apex court.
“We believe in the rule of law and the Supreme Court is the highest court in Nigeria and we stand by their verdict. So, we are calling on our peace-loving governor to call the boundary committee to order and obey the Supreme Court verdict.
“The land is our ancestral land and the Supreme Court justices have affirmed that, and no Jupiter in this world will take the land away from us unless they kill all of us, and we are not afraid of anybody.”
A community leader, Chief Hyacinth Onejemechi, and former chairman of the community, Chief Godson Anyadike, said they would rather die than cede the land to another community. They noted that the state boundary committee was not a court and should not contravene the verdict of the Supreme Court.
“We went to the high court at Ekwulobia, we won there. We went to the Appeal Court, Enugu, we also won them. They appealed the judgement at the Supreme Court, which lingered for some years, and we won, as the five justices of the court said that we were the owners of the land. There is no way they will go through the back door to take our land through the state boundary committee,” they said.
They also urged government to protect the people instead of threatening their lives with security agents.
A youth leader, Mr. Pius Ezeudu, said the youths were not happy over the alleged plot to demarcate the land after the apex court had given its judgement. He said the youths had been peaceful over the years that the matter had been in court but warned that they would always protect their inheritance.
“I know that our peace-loving governor, Chief Willie Obiano, might not know what the boundary committee has been doing. But, with this protest, I believe he will know and intervene before it is too late. We are going to protect this land with the last drop of our blood. We are not going to leave this land and the next generation will not leave it,” Ezeudu warned.
A woman leader, Mrs. Ifeoma Ezeokoli, said since she had been married to a native of the village, the people had been farming on the land.
“We don’t want war. Governor Obiano should come to our aid. We have been law-abiding people, but the use of the boundary committee to take our land will cause crisis in this area. I know that our husbands and youths will not agree after the apex court had ruled on the matter. They should obey court verdict and withdraw from the land,” she said.
The traditional ruler of Ekwulobia town, Igwe Emmanuel Onyeneke, said he was not aware of the protest but commended the villagers for their peaceful conduct. He urged them to remain peaceful pending the final resolution of the matter.
“The land they are talking about has been in dispute since I became the traditional ruler for a very long time. Even some people that were born at that time have died. And I’m aware that they got Supreme Court judgement over the land matter last year. I was surprised again when I got a letter from the State Boundary Committee. I didn’t take it very seriously, because it was assumed that the Supreme Court verdict has taken care of the matter.
“I’m not a lawyer but I know that land matters are normally settled in court, and if it is outside the court, then it will be by negotiation. It has taken some time since they started going to the boundary committee. The secretary of the committee recently called me and told me they were coming for inspection on the land, that they would like to pay me a visit, but I told him that I wouldn’t be around that day.
“I don’t have details of how the boundary committee operates, but another person called me that they were coming for demarcation. I don’t know the difference between the ‘demarcation’ and ‘inspection.’ I was all the time hoping that if it is land dispute and that land dispute had moved from the High Court to Appeal Court from there to Supreme Court, if anybody is challenging it he should also go through the same court process. Anything outside that, I do not understand,” the traditional ruler said.
He called on government to listen to the parties, look into the documents, hear from them and let peace reign.
However, the executive secretary, State Boundary Committee, Chief Emma Nwokoye, denied the allegation that his committee was planning to demarcate the land.
“We are not putting any demarcation on the land at Umuekpili Ekwulobia. We are coming for inspection granted by the Anambra State Boundary Committee to inspect the areas of claims by both parties. Both parties cannot interpret the Supreme Court but it can only be interpreted by the Attorney-General of the state or his representative. They cannot interpret the judgement. They cannot sit down in their houses describing the judgement. We want to be clear about what the Supreme Court judgement says,” Nwokoye stated.
