Delta community alleges land grab, petitions Okowa

Alleging fraud, brazen acts of intimidation and utter disregard for the rule of law in the acquisition of a vast parcel of land measuring 202,38 hectares by the Delta State Government, the people of Ajaji-Illah, Oshimili North Local Council have called on Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to revisit the land grab.

The state government had acquired the land under the guise of the overriding interest of the state to development a business park but the elders of the community charged that proper processes for the acquisition were never followed.

In a petition to Okowa by the Diokpa (elder) Ogbuenyi Emmanuel Emelifeonwu of the community, he said that unknown persons masqueraded as true representatives of the community to dupe the government.

Emelifeonwu further alleged that the state government flouted the necessary processes involved in community land acquisition.

The elder claimed that there was no official notification of intention to the community, and that true representatives of the community never met with government officials on the demarcation of the land and subsequent payment of compensation.

According to him, six deities of the community are located at different spots of the said 202.83 hectares of land, insisting that with government forceful acquisition, residents of the agrarian community have been denied of their means of livelihood.

He called on Okowa to prevail on the Ministry of Land to re-examine all the documents in the said land deal “to ascertain what we consider a grave act of deception.”

Emelifeonwu further urged the governor to order the Ministry of Land and the Asaba Capital Development Authority to initiate “a fresh process that will follow due process” of land acquisition.

He wrote: “The Ajaji community, Illah, is open to honest discussion, and is prepared to part with portion of our land, so long as the size is mutually discussed and agreed, in so far as it will serve the good interest of our community and the larger Delta State, provide that the government follows due process in the acquisition.”