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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
They are bitter and angry. They claim that the Delta State government has cheated them, rendering them homeless. And they are insisting that the drive by Delta State Government for investors to come to the state might continue to be a pipedream, going by the cruel fate they alleged was meted out to them by the state authorities.
They are landowners at the Fountain City Estate, Umuodafe in Ibusa, Oshimili North Local Government area of Delta State.
The state government has been promising prospective investors that it will guarantee the enabling environment needed for their investments to thrive. But the Fountain City Estate protesters are accusing the government of taking over their land, measuring over 2,000 hectares, which they claimed to have legitimately bought from Umuodafe community.
But the state government has insisted that it did no wrong. It accused the protesters of encroaching on land already acquired long ago by the state government for public use.
Among those angry are Nigerians from various tribes and regions, who are alleging that the state government unleashed bulldozers on their properties without prior notice.
Bearing placards of various inscriptions, the aggrieved landlords appealed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to personally intervene and save their properties, on which they claimed to have invested over N30 billion.
The prospective expanse of land is located behind Asaba Airport with the possibility that the approach road to the Second Niger Bridge might just be routed through it.
As a result of such prospects, the land owners said they borrowed money to secure the plots and start building only to wake up one morning last July to see their investments being levelled by bulldozers.
One of the protesters, a widowed petty trader, Mrs. Julie Ogbuagwu, lamented that she has nothing left to her name.
She bemoaned: “All of a sudden, we hear that government has seized the land with all the money we have spent. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to start from. Please I am calling on Governor Okowa to help us. I don’t have anywhere to run to. He should help to recover this land for us.”
Another protester, Mustapha Bolaji, a father of three, said he was scared of what the future holds for him since the alleged invasion of the land by government.
“When I look at my wife and three children, I ask myself, will these people be rendered homeless when I am gone? I borrowed money to add to my life savings to acquire this land. I invested N2.5 million just to secure the land.
“I fear the future, I am having nightmares. I rarely sleep; I sleep in fits and starts. I rarely sleep the normal eight hours a day since this demolition started,” he said.
Narrating how the ugly situation started, Akeem Lasisi said before they bought the plots of land, the landowners had carried out investigation and established that the vast area was free from encumbrances.
“We made inquiries and the people from the Ministry of Land said there was no government interest. That is how I bought mine and brought some of my clients here to buy also.
“We surveyed the land, lodged it and it scaled through. We paid the necessary levies to government which they acknowledged and gave us lodgement certificates,” Lasisi said
Displaying various documents, Lasisi informed that Ibusa community gave the power of attorney to one of their sons, Ifeanyi Asiodu to sell the plots of land to subscribers.
“This is power of attorney from Ibusa given to one of their sons, Ifeanyi Asiodu, to sell this land on their behalf. I particularly went into the town to ask about Asiodu and they confirmed that he is in charge of selling the land.
“These are lodgement certificates and building plans which were approved by the Ministry of Lands and Survey. Some of us wanted to start pursuing the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) but because the price is too high, we could not continue. If not, by now we would have be parading our C of O,” he added.
According to Lasisi, they were surprised last July when bulldozers were unleashed on their properties, adding that when they rushed to Umuodafe, the community informed the beleaguered landowners that government was acquiring the place.
“Umuodafe is interfacing with government after they sold the land to us, and the government did not ask questions before demolishing.
“The Commissioner for Lands, Kate Onianwa is from Umuodafe, and we believe that the community is instigating this as they have gone behind to ask for compensation from government,” he informed.
Dr Donatus Umeh, another subscriber, said they have lost ten of their members to heart attacks since the demolition started.
Umeh said apart from the money paid to secure plots of land, they also paid four different categories of levies to the community before any form of development could start.
“They collected money for Ibusa youths, taskforce payment which is almost N900k, local government levies, and elders’ levies. Before you lay a block here, you pay four different categories of levies to the community.
“I surveyed the land and lodged it, it scaled through and came out, meaning that I am actually the rightful owner. Not just that, we called our relatives outside the country because 30 per cent of property owners here are in the diaspora who wanted to invest in this country.
“Now, that dream has been shattered and destroyed. The community went behind us to tell government to come and take the land. And when government came with the demolition machines and saw buildings, they would have asked questions but they never did only to unleash the equipment on the properties,” Umeh said.
He appealed to the Federal Government, the National Assembly, United Nations, Amnesty International and the Human Rights community, to intervene and save the situation to avoid more deaths.
The state government has responded, however, asserting that the land was long acquired during the tenure of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for overriding public interest.
Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, who spoke while reacting to an earlier protest, said government decided to de-acquire part of the vast land for private citizens as a step towards fast-tracking development. Aniagwu said the protesters went beyond the de-acquired position to encroach on the part that was not de-acquired by government.
He noted that the private subscribers were expected to go back to Umuodafe since government had already ceded part of the land to the community when it was de-acquired, rather than keep encroaching on the area that was not de-acquired.
But the Umuodafe community has distance itself from the government, saying that they didn’t invite the authorities to come over and take possession of the land.
Mr Ifeanyi Asiodu, who was given the power of attorney to sell the plots of land, said the state government only indicated interest during the tenure of former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, adding that the government failed to take concrete steps to possess it.
“Since that time till this moment, they have not paid compensation. They did not do anything legally about this land.
“We know what government can do, but there are processes in acquiring community land. They did not do enumeration there. They did not pay compensation to the community. They did not ask the people who bought plots of land to come and regularise.
“The only place they did enumeration is where you have Immigration, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), that one is for overriding public interest, we may say.
“But for this one, they are forcefully allocating it to individual politicians. The community did not invite government to take over the land. We don’t want it.
“We met with the government and asked them to come here and pay compensation so that we can have money to relocate them, or allow them to regularise. We are handicapped. We are stranded. The subscribers are stranded,” he said.
