By Vincent Ujumadu
A 96-year-old man, Elder Stephen Okoye, on Wednesday led hundreds of residents of Umuenu Quarters in Umuawulu, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, in a protest over what they alleged was an attempt by the state’s Deputy Governor, Dr. Onyekachukwu Ibezim, to intervene in a land dispute they said had already been decided by the Supreme Court.
Speaking during the protest, Okoye, who described himself as the oldest man in Umuenu Quarters, said the community had been in a long-running dispute with Enugwu Quarters over the Agu Umuenu land, which he described as fertile.
In an emotion-laden voice, Okoye lamented what he described as attempts to take over the land, saying such actions were uncommon during his younger days.
He said: “This land dispute started during the colonial era and after a protracted litigation, it was acknowledged that Umuenu is the owner of the land. We are surprised that people who are not indigenous to this area should be claiming our land.”
According to him, Enugwu Quarters, one of the three quarters in Umuawulu, had served as witnesses for the people of Awgbu during earlier litigation over the land, and questioned why they were now laying claim to it and petitioning the Deputy Governor to intervene.
“Enugwu people are only trying to ignite crisis in Umuawulu. They are not original people of Umuawulu and we wonder how they want to claim land that was there before they came and we gave them where they live.
“They want to manipulate the issue by using the Deputy Governor because he is in charge of boundary disputes in the state. It is dangerous to twist this matter and the Deputy Governor should not be talking of sharing our land after all the courts have decided on the matter,” the nonagenarian said.
Also speaking, President of Umuenu Quarters Assembly, Mr. Bernard Mbolu, said the dispute had gone through several courts from 1927 before reaching the Supreme Court, which, according to him, delivered judgment in favour of Umuenu Quarters in 1963.
He said: “We are the rightful owners of the land known as Agu Udo Umuoma and Agu Ofuu, which were collectively named Agu Umuenu. There is no other quarter contesting the ownership of the land with us until 2020.
“During the litigation, Enugwu Quarters testified in favour of Awgbu that they were the rightful owners of the land. When we defeated Awgbu in court and Awgbu people wanted us to have a permanent boundary demarcation, we did and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them.
“Surprisingly, Enugwu people invaded the land after they had testified for Awgbu people that it was their land. That was why we took the matter to the Igwe-in-Council and the then President-General of Umuawulu, Ozo I.K. Nkala, set up a 20-man committee, with Umuenu and Enugwu Quarters nominating 10 members each, while the neutral quarter, Agbana, produced the chairman, Professor Ezenwaji, and Cyril Ezeofor served as secretary.
“After hearing from the two quarters, the committee decided that the land belongs to Umuenu people. We were, however, surprised that Enugwu people rejected the decision. In 2024, when our people went there to farm in line with what we believe was the court decision, they allegedly attacked our people with dangerous weapons. One of our brothers, Mr. Humphrey Obi, sustained severe injuries during the incident and later died.”
Note: This version is cleaned for grammar, punctuation and style, while retaining all the material. Potentially defamatory allegations have been clearly attributed to the speakers using phrases such as “alleged,” “according to him,” and “he said,” rather than being presented as established facts.
