By Okey Igwesi
Good day my good people of Umuatugbu Oma, Akegbe, Nkanu West LGA, Enugu state.
Going by what happened in the court on Tuesday, July 22nd, do we assume that the absence of the judge in court to hear our case without reason for his absence from either his secretary or defence counsel as normal? And in this era of Global System for Mobile communications ( GSM ). From the beginning of this case, one may observe , some level of shenanigans and intimidation from the Enugu state government, their Housing agent and the facilitators, to grab this land (Umuatugbu Oma Ancestral Land) through the use of brute force.
We may recall, initially how, these grabbers with the state Housing Corporation, came into this land with arguments and justifications that the land was donated to them by some families in Umuatugbu oma, for private housing estate to safeguard the community from criminals. And how through their former counsel, Bar Anayo Ede Esq, deposed in a document in defence of claims made by the people of Umuatugbu oma , that his clients acquired this land by meeting up both the traditional and other legal fees, ranging from N10 million to each head of the families that donated the land to additional N120,000 each as monetization for traditional " ikpa nri ani ".
Now, the latest is another antics; "a notice of acquisition " and letter of invitation to the same families and title owners of this land for settlement and compensation on ground that the state governor has acquired this same land "in the overall ridding public interest."
This again, is another move the people of Umuatugbu oma discovered was another ploy by the same facilitators and their agents to hoodwink the people to accept their illegality: this time with another and alleged promise and offer of plots in addition to heads of the willing families and the identified facilitators.
This, again, left many with questions as to: " What is all this over ridding public interest" in all these by the Enugu State Commissioner for Lands and Urban Development, Bar Chimaobi Patrick Okorie Esq in this threats and notice of acquisition and alleged letter from the State governor. Shortly before this, their defence counsel, Bar. Ikechukwu Onuoma (SAN), again came with another appeal and told the court in one of its sittings, that his clients did not follow due process in entering into this land in Umuatugbu Oma and pleaded for time to " settle the matter out of court?"
The whole issue and the failure of the court to sit over this matter on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025, to many, appeared as another ploy by the state to deceive the public.
Indeed, they appeared to be in a fix and seemed to ran out of lies to the public. This is the opinion of many. And as a journalist, it is seen as a bad public relations stunt and poor information management created to silence the matter and the public. Unfortunately , this has given room for speculations and doubts on government sincerity over this matter and the welfare of the people of Umuatugbu oma.
As a public issue, the masses deserve the right to be informed on the latest developments over this land matter that is already in public domain. Therefore, the interest of the larger publics must be considered in this matter of land grabbing. Moreso, when accusing fingers are equally being pointed at the injustice meted on this same community (Umuatugbu Oma) in the past on the Rangers Estate in the same Umuatugbu oma by the same government.
The land upon where the Rangers Estate in Umuatugbu oma situate today was acquired by the government in the same way and without due process and sold off to private estate developers who now in turn, are selling same at exorbitant prices to willing buyers.
This is why the people of Umuatugbu oma are crying for justice and appealing to the state governor, Dr Peter Mba to intervene and get the land grabbers to leave their ancestral land because their children have no other land to inherit.
Whatever may be the reason for the court not sitting on this matter on that day must be made known to the people and curious public whose rights to know the truth must be protected.
The truth must be told in the interest of justice, the binding stone of democracy!! Thank you.
...Okey Igwesi, a veteran journalist and public relations expert, writes in care for his Umuatugbu Oma people. NNL.
