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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
The Obi of Ogwashi-Uku, Obi Ifechukwude Okonjo II, has accused the Delta State Government of paying N500 million compensation for an expanse of land proposed for a military barracks to wrong beneficiaries.
Obi Okonjo, brother to the Director General of World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the massive land is located in Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government Area, alleging that the government recently paid the N500 million compensation to Ibusa in neighbouring Oshimili North Local Government Area.
Brandishing documents and court judgements dating back to colonial Nigeria, Okonjo said most areas which Ibusa was laying claims to actually belonged to Ogwashi-Uku.
He explained that in 1965, Ibusa won a court case for a piece of land, alleging that what the Ibusa now did was to come up with a fraudulent litigation plan, claiming ownership of almost the entire Ogwashi-Uku.
According to him, it was on the basis of the fraudulent litigation plan that the state government now paid the compensation to Ibusa for the land proposed for military barracks.
‘What we discovered is that the litigation plan that was used in the matter was substituted with a fraudulent litigation plan. The sleeping Obi, my father, discovered the discrepancy and went back to the Supreme Court, and the court said the plan used to litigate the 1965 case was actually different. So we are back in court for that matter.
‘But what we are now seeing is the payment of compensation to Ibusa for Ogwashi-Uku land. Ibusa people have taken it, the Commissioner for Land paid N500 million to them for an Army Barracks that is supposed to be built here on Ogwashi-Uku land.
‘We in Ogwashi-Uku will not accept any compensation until we finished the litigation because we know the land belongs to us,’ he said.
When contacted for comment, the state Commissioner for Lands, Mrs Kate Onianwa, said that the government was yet to pay compensation for the land allocated for military barracks, adding that the dispute over the said land was partly responsible for the delay.
She explained that the Okowa administration was deliberate in allocating land to security formations as part of measures to boost security and peace in various communities across the state.
‘We have not even paid any compensation. They gave the military that place to boost security and peace. That is why Delta State is so peaceful. What His Excellency is doing is to give these security bodies land in strategic places to build their barracks.
‘We have not paid anything but some of the communities have come to say thank you to government. In a place, there must be some reactions and counter-reactions, we have not even paid anybody.
‘We have spoken to both parties, as in we invited both parties and they were in agreement that the portion should be given to the military. Even when they wanted to site the Admiralty University, both parties were in agreement, everybody loves development,’ she said.
