Palpable fears have seized the local folks of Oko village in Ideani, Idemili North Local Government of Anambra State over what they described as “subterranean and covert moves by some unscrupulous land speculators, grabbers (names withheld) allegedly aided by top officials of the Anambra State Boundary Commission, masking under various guises to cajole, intimidate, manipulate and harass the villagers into giving up ancestral lands inherited from forebears out of fears.”
In a strongly worded petition to the Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, the security agencies, the Anambra State Assembly, and the traditional ruler of Abatete in concert with the palace of the Eze Ide in-Council of Ideani, the villagers alleged that “the intimidation of our uninformed villagers was inarguably to prevent them from speaking out or raising the alarm against the land speculators so as to enable them complete their sinister mission of removing the ancient landmarks, beacons and the mutually agreed, set boundary between the neighbouring Abatete and Ideani Communities along the Ogbu(Abatete) and Oko(Ideani)villages, both in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State”.
The petition signed by the Secretary of the Igwe-In-Council -Chief Theo Ikenwa noted that, “our preliminary investigation revealed that these mindless land speculators were said to have been going round with a team of heavily armed police officers and thugs, together with some high ranking officers of the Anambra State Boundary Commission in order to give their criminal enterprise an official imprimatur.
Therefore, “the Ideani Royal Palace hereby issue a note of warning, and caution to the general public against dealing with anyone over any portion of land along the Ogbu Abatete/Oko Ideani borders would be doing so at his/her own risk.
It went further to assert that, “those selling or the unsuspecting buyers of any plot of land in the quoted areas are clearly dealing with criminals who have no legal authority or mandate whatsoever to do so. As the Oko village has not enough land for her indigenes, hence none to sell to anyone.
It added that, “Ideani Community has not delegated any person/s to discuss, negotiate or deal with anyone on her behalf on this referred land or any other land in the community whatsoever. So, anyone doing so under whatever guise is a criminal and should be treated as such.”
A visit to the referred Abatete/Ideani border region, the troubled area by a team of journalists met a silence of the graveyard where the fear-strcken villagers maintained sealed lips. They apparently see any strange face with deep suspicion, therefore adopted a studied caution when approached for comments.
However, one aged man in his 70s who gave his name simply as Samuel admitted that the villagers saw some known ”notorious land grabbers” on a couple of times in the past one year or thereabout parading the border area with some other persons and heavily armed policemen alleged to be from the Anambra State Boundary Commission demolishing old beacons and planting new ones far into the Ideani side of the boundary.
He also disclosed that unconfirmed information revealed that about five hundred(500) plots of land were so far stolen/seized from the villagers and were already sold off instantly.
Mr Samuel disclosed that amongst the buyers were known troubleshooters from both Abatete and Ideani communities. And that the syndicate were discovered to included active connivance from both communities and officials of Anambra State Boundary Commission.
Ikenwa in the memo counselled anyone who has given out money over lands in the affected area to go for immediate refund, as any documents being circulated in consequence were mere fabrications by the criminal syndicate, and amounted to nothing but only good for the dustbin.
He emphasized that “there is a subsisting, binding agreement between the two neighboring Communities sealed by their traditional rulers years ago.
“Any new marks, boundary or beacons for whatever reason being set by anyone or group of persons under whatever guise on the referred Ogbu/Oko border without recourse to this agreement dated September 22, 1999 is null and void!
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the Anambra Deputy Governor, Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezi who is the Chairman of the state’s Boundary Commission remained unsuccessful as he was said to be on field work for past seven weeks! Even several visits to his office, text messages and phone calls have yielded no positive attention.
However, a top aide in the Boundary Commission confirmed their being aware of the ruffled feathers in the stated border area. “But we are already tackling it”, he disclosed simplistically.
An inquiry at the Abatete Royal Palace, just like that of Ideani revealed they were oblivious of any visit or actions from the Boundary Commission. They told journalists that it was not true that the Government was doing something as no one has contacted either palaces or the town Union leaderships of both communities.
The Eze-in-council of Ideani disclosed that the Save Our Soul letter to the Governor and other agencies was given rise to by the daily complaints and apprehensive concerns of the villagers to the palace.
More so that repeated visits, phone calls and messages efforts to the Deputy Governor had all met a brickwall. So, in consequence they decided to come open in public.
According to some youths in the area, “the pent up anger would burst open any moment as we rarely sleep with two eyes closed these days. We have resolved to meet with anyone coming around to lay claim to any part of the land”, he sarcastically dropped while puffing away his cigarette oozing some strange choking smell.
