…Accuses Police of harassment
From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
The Oroworhukwo Town in Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State has called on President Bola Tinubu to call the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to order over their community heritage.
Also, the community has urged the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, and the Commissioner of Police in the state, Olatunji Disu, to warn police operatives to stop aiding land grabbing.
The community made the calls during a protest at the said property in Port Harcourt yesterday
Chairman of the Land Allocation Committee, Buduburisi Ejeknu, who addressed journalists, said the community people were being harassed by policemen, adding that the development has caused worries among residents.
Ejeknu said when the policemen came to attack community people working on the land, the community found out that they were sent to drive the community people away.
He said: “We investigated the matter and found that it was one of our kinsmen, the former governor of the state, and Minister that sent the policemen. We felt that reason will prevail. But, unfortunately, Thursday, while our people were working, because we had planned to allocate the land today, the same police led by SUPOL London came here and started shooting sporadically.
“They arrested two of our workers including Chibuike Okpara. They beat him up terribly. The police have no business in land matters. Anyone who feels he has land problem, knows that the courts are there.
“We want to sound a note of warning. Nkpolu Oroworhukwo Community will not allow anybody no matter how powerful he is to conquer our land. We have over 80 plots of land here and our community has made sacrifices to the state in the past.
“We are calling on the CP of Rivers State, who has received accolades, that he cannot allow any individual to own any branch of police. The peace of this community must be maintained.”
However, the Secretary of Nkpolu Oroworhukwo Land Committee, Livingstone Wechie, stated that the action of the police was an affront on the people of Oroworhukwo, adding that the people peacefully have taken over their land.
Wechie said: “Wike is our kinsman, but he has made himself an adversary unprovoked to forcibly take our land. If he needs a land he should go to his community and do the traditional right and get land.
“We, as a community, have peacefully come to reclaim our land without any encumbrance. We make this message peacefully, calling on President Bola Tinubu, the NSA to call Wike to order. We are not here to blackmail anyone. We will not take intimidation.
“We are sending a delegation to his community with a dry and fresh stick. To lay a warning calling on his community to call him to order that, if the hair of any Oroworhukwo man falls to the ground because of this land that minister should be held responsible.
“We have faced enough humiliation. This is not about PDP or APC matter. This is an ancestral heritage of Oroworhukwo Town, his has been Christained Mgbuike Luxury Estate. We have high regards for the CP, IGP and the President. We urge them not to allow one man endanger the life of a community.”