Palpable fears have seized the local folks of Oko village in Ideani, Idemili North Council of Anambra State over what they described as ‘moves by some unscrupulous land speculators and grabbers, allegedly aided by top officials of the Anambra State Boundary Commission, to intimidate, and harass them into giving up their ancestral lands out of fears.’
The fears were expressed in a petition the villagers wrote to the 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.
They are also alleging that their people were being intimidated to keep silent over the ugly development.
The petition signed by the Secretary of the Igwe-In-Council -Chief Theo Ikenwa read; “the intimidation of our uninformed villagers was inarguable to prevent them from speaking out or raising the alarm against the land speculators to enable them to complete their sinister mission of removing the ancient landmarks, beacons and the mutually agreed/set boundary between the neighboring Abatete and Ideani Communities along the Ogbu(Abatete) and Oko(Ideani) villages, both in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
“Our preliminary investigation revealed that these mindless land speculators were said to have been going around with a team of heavily armed police officers and thugs, together with some high-ranking officers of the Anambra State Boundary Commission to give their criminal enterprise an official imprimatur.
“Therefore, the Ideani Royal Palace hereby issues a note of warning, and caution to the general public, that anybody dealing with anyone over any portion of land along the Ogbu Abatete/Oko Ideani borders, would be doing so at his or 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 dealing with criminals who have no legal authority or mandate whatsoever to do so.
The petition further maintained that “Ideani Community has not delegated any person 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 the silence of the graveyard where the fear-stricken villagers maintained sealed lips.
They see any strange face with deep suspicion and, therefore adopt a studied caution when approached for comments.
However, an aged man in his 70s who gave his name simply as Samuel admitted that the villagers saw some known ‘notorious land grabbers’ a couple of times in the past 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 plots of land had been stolen or seized from the villagers and were already sold off instantly.
Mr. Samuel disclosed that among the buyers were known troublemakers from both Abatete and Ideani communities and that the syndicate was discovered to include active connivance from both communities and officials of the Anambra State Boundary Commission.
Ikenwa in the memo, 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 several visits to his office, text messages, and phone calls 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 had 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 repeated visits, phone calls, and messages efforts to the Deputy Governor had all met a brick wall, hence the decision to come open in public.
