Fresh facts have emerged on the controversial acquisition of Egu-Agbor-Umuigbo land at Amurri kingdom in Nkanu-West Local Government Area of Enugu State, for an alleged Farm Estate.
This followed the denials of prominent indigenes of the community, including two traditional rulers, Igwe E.O. Ogbonna and Igwe Fidelis Nwachineke, as well as the Presidents-General (PGs), who absolved themselves of complicity in the alleged forceful takeover of their ancestral land.
Also, the Councillor, representing Amurri ward, Obinna Chukwu, absolved himself of supporting the establishment of the Farm Estate in the disputed land.
They blamed the Chairman of the Nkanu West Local Government Area, Hon. John Ogbodo, for allegedly failing to engage in meaningful dialogue before citing the Farm Estate in the area.
The facts came to light on Saturday when the indigenes of Amurri arrived at the land in their hundreds to honour the meeting scheduled by the state government team, led by the state Commissioner for Agriculture and Agro-Industrialisation, Dr. Patrick Ubru.
However, none of the government officials, including Ubru and the Chairman of the Nkanu-West Local Government Council, John Ogbodo, were present at the meeting venue.
It was learnt that the botched meeting was reached at a roundtable dialogue between government officials and the aggrieved villagers, held at the office of the agricultural commissioner, to conduct an on-the-spot assessment of the land.
Efforts to get the officials to react to why they failed to honour the scheduled meeting proved abortive. But the local government chairman, Ogbodo, had earlier stated that he consulted the community leaders before citing the Farm Estate in the area.
However, in a statement made available to journalists, the traditional ruler, Igwe Ogbonna, stated that he is not a party to the land acquisition by the local government boss.
Parts of the royal father’s position read:
“I, His Royal Highness, Igwe Sir E. O Ogbonna, wish to state categorically that I was never a party to any negotiation with respect to the acquisition of a parcel of land belonging to Umuigbo-Amurri community, by Nkanu West Local Government.
“The most I know about this issue was when my attention was attracted to the arrest and detention of two (2) persons from Umuonwe-Obegu (Amankanu-Amurri), under the false allegation of armed robbery and kidnapping, over the land issue.
“Without hesitation, I had to leave my Guest House in Enugu on 24th December, 2024, at about 9 am, to secure the release of these young men (in court), whose aim of their prosecutors was to bundle them straight to prison to suffer unjustly for an offence they never committed.
“I was later joined in the court by HRM Igwe Charles Nwoye for this rigorous process, and eventually returned to my house at about 4 pm, after securing the bail of the falsely accused young men.
“Of course, this unforeseen development delayed my going home for the Christmas and New Year festivities till 25th December, which was most unusual. But I thank God that I eventually succeeded in resolving the issue which precipitated this delay.
“Subsequently, I had to summon a meeting of all four (4) Igwes in Amurri in my palace at home to broker peace. Interestingly, all of them were in attendance, during which we had robust deliberations.
“For purposes of clarity, all I heard then was that the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation was negotiating for a donation of a parcel of land from Amurri for a housing estate.
“Frankly speaking, while in Nigeria, I never heard anything about the Smart Farm project. It was after I had travelled out of the country for my routine annual medical vacation in the United States that my PG called and informed me about this.
“I told him that it was a welcome development. I also went further to inform him that Eziokwe community has vast hectares of land at our boundaries with the following neighbouring communities like; Ugbawka, Agbogugu, Ogbaku and Nenwe.
“I instructed him that these areas should be donated to Amurri clan so that they can present them to the government representatives, who will now choose any of them for their Smart Farm project, housing estate, industries or whatever project they choose to establish there.
“I reasoned that the government’s presence in any of those areas will automatically chase away the notorious Fulani herdsmen, who seem to have colonized the areas over the years, while the remaining portions will be enough for our people to farm on, as they have not been going to distant farmlands due to the fear of possible attack by these killer-Fulani herders.
“Even as I’m communicating with you right now, I’m still abroad, but I feel obliged to make my stand on this issue public, as my silence could be misconstrued.”
Other community leaders who spoke to newsmen, such as HRH Igwe Fidelis Nwachineke, National President of Amurri Town Union, John Egbo, other President Generals, Ede Romanus Chidi, Ani Friday Emmanuel, and Oko Sandstine Ani, denied citing the Farm Estate in the troubled area.
They agreed with the stance of their paramount ruler, appealing to the state Governor, Peter Mbah, for swift intervention to stem civil disobedience in the area.
They said that the community had since mapped out four other areas where the state government can conveniently use for a farm estate, stressing that they are not against the establishment of the laudable project in the community.
