From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Hundreds of landlords in Nkpikpa layout, Obosi, including widows in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, made an appeal to State Governor Charles Soludo, the Chief of Army Staff and his naval counterpart to stop moves to allegedly dispossess them of their land in the Obosi area.
The landlords who staged a peaceful protest on Monday said they bought the farmland and have been farming there since 1998.
They blocked the Obosi end of the ongoing 2nd Niger Bridge Road, in protest against the alleged attempt by a developer and a popular Pentecostal Church, to dispossess them of the land.
The landowners protested under the aegis of Nkpikpa Phase II Landlord Association, now in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the State, displaying placards with inscriptions such as “Nkpikpa Layout land is not for land grabbers”, “We bought Nkpipa Land as farmlands between 1998 and year 2000 not expecting a road passing through it, let alone 2nd Niger Bridge road”, “Governor Soludo avert break down of law and order the immediate past government tried to plant for your administration”, among others.
Addressing newsmen shortly after their protest, Chairman of Umuabua Family Obosi, one of the owners of the land, Hon. Onyedika Abanobi and the Chairman of the Nkpikpa Phase II Landlord Association, Mr Victor Azubike, separately appealed to Governor Soludo, the Chief of Army Staff and his counterpart, the Chief of Naval Staff, to prevail on the Commanders of the Army and Navy in Onitsha to withdraw their men allegedly being used to intimidate them from farming in their land.
The duo alleged that a particular land developer with the help of the military in the early part of 2022, entered the land and started clearing it, and when they approached him to know who authorized him, according to them, he claimed that the immediate past government of the State gave him Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) to the land.
Hon. Abanobi said: “I am the elected Chairman of Umuabua Family of Obosi, who is one of the landlords and the only tenants we have in that land are members of Nkpikpa Phase II Landlord Association. We do not have any business with any developer or church as far as our lands are concerned.
“The members of the landlord association as a group and individuals agreed and we sold our land to them and since 1998 and 2000 the transaction was done, we have no problem with them, we have been relating like families and they have been cooperating with us.
“We started having intruders and trespassers into our land, particularly the ones sold to the Nkpika Landlords Association since 2022 when the 2nd Niger Bridge road crossed the land, and now they have seen that development nobody imaged or expected is coming to Nkpikpa Layout, they want to dispossess poor men, women and widows of the land, we will never accept that.
On his part, the Chairman of the Nkpikpa Landlords Association, Mr Azubike appealed to Governor Soludo to intervene by stopping any construction project that could start on the land, following an alleged ongoing clearing with caterpillars on the land, saying that they would not live to see anybody dispossessing them of their over twenty-five years legitimately acquired property because of the apparent development that was coming there.
The spokesperson for the women, Mrs Constance Nsofor, and over fifty widows who own lands in the area also spoke with reporters.
“We bought the land from our Obosi landlords, made up of Umuabua, Anikpee and Umuezechima families, as a farming land between 1998 to 2000, without any knowledge that a road will ever pass through the land let alone 2nd Niger Bridge road that divides the land now.
“We have been farming in the land for over twenty-five years, planting yam, cassava and harvesting the palm fruits there, and for one day nobody, including our landlords, have disturbed us, we were however surprised that a man came from nowhere and started clearing and selling our land claiming to have been given C of O by the immediate past government.
“We are appealing to Governor Soludo, the Army and Navy authorities to halt the intimidation we have been subjected to following the presence of soldiers of Nigerian Army and Navy drafted to protect the land for whom we have no land transaction with. We are poor women and widows. The proceeds from the land are all we use in taking care of our children,” they alleged.