The people of Umuezenevu Village, Ibute-Egede Autonomous Community in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State have protested against those they said illegally entered their land and destroyed economic trees in the guise of building an estate.
The people joined by various men, women and youths organisations including members of the land committee in the community stormed the streets, marching from their Awele Udeh Civic Hall, Umuezenevu to the land in question, with placards of various inscriptions calling on the Local Government Area Chairman Engr. Hyginus Agu and the State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah and the government of Enugu State to end the impunity of alleged land grabbers in their ancestral land.
Addressing journalists at the land site, known and registered as Phoenix Layout Phases One to Four, which is located along the new dual carriage- 9th Mile – Obollo Afor highway, the Chairman of Umuezenevu Village, Elder Patrick Onodu, said their protest is against alleged land grabbers who, without contact or negotiation entered Umuezenevu ancestral land destroying economic trees, damaging vegetation as they wreak havoc on farmland.
Elder Onodu added, “we are calling on all those masking under various names to come out and remove their bulldozers and caterpillars from our land immediately for we have not sold nor authorised anybody, entity or estate agents or cronies to advertise for sale or carry out any form of land transactions for themselves or on behalf of Uumu – ezenevu village.
“Any such transaction without the express consent and knowledge of the Umuezenevu people and its traditional ruler, His Royal Highness, Igwe Dr. Ikenna Okwesili, is null and void.
Whoever had any financial transactions on Umu – ezenevu land did so illegally.” Corroborating the Chairman’s narrations, some of the aggrieved Youth leaderships explained that for almost two to three months, they witnessed the unfortunate trespass by some unidentified individuals into their ancestral expanse of land as referenced above, without their permission and destroyed so many of their cash crops which is source of their livelihood and which they explained were worth over N5billion.
