The host communities of the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) have once again appealed to both the Federal and state Government to prevail on the management of the institution to stop encroaching into their ancestral lands.
The host communities are demanding the excision of part of the over 4000 hectares of their land FUTO is allegedly occupying.
They alleged that while the matter is pending in court, that the FUTO management had continued to expand into the disputed land.
Recall that indigenes of the FUTO host communities recently protested in Owerri, the state capital, to express their grievance.
The protesters said the institution was marginalizing them and that they no longer have lands to cultivate.
They bore banners and placards with inscriptions: ‘FUTO should leave our land’; ‘Hope Uzodimma should come and rescue us’.
Speaking, Elder Vincent Njoku, said they were protesting to insist that FUTO should wait until court decides on the matter.
“FUTO should leave our land, even when the Federal Government has decided that a part should be given back to the communities, and FUTO to take some, FUTO has refused”, he stated.
Mrs Ngozi Amadi said they came to appeal to both state and federal governments to urge FUTO to stop acting with impunity.
