The land grab regime that has been ravaging parts of Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State in recent time is far from abating as suspected grabbers allegedly backed by the King of Ogwashi-Uku, Obi Ifechukwude Aninshi Okonjo have invaded about 33 hectares of land in Ubulu-Uku territory, destroying farm crops and forcefully claiming ownership of the land.
The land which is located at Aniagbala part of Ubulu-Uku reportedly belongs to Mr. Luke Ejiofor, a reputed banker with about 30 years experience, who bought it some eight years ago for developmental purposes.
The invasion which began Monday this week came less than three months after an Ogwashi-Uku family (name withheld) similarly invaded lands belonging to Ubulu-Okiti, claiming ownership.
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen on Tuesday, Ejiofor gave details of how he bought the land from the families that own the land at Aniagbala which is part of Ubulu-Uku kingdom. According to him, some years ago as an investment banker who had spent about 16 years as Managing Director, he mooted the idea of setting up a palm oil processing mill in his town and went ahead to source for land at Aniagbala where some hectares were readily available for purchase.
Initially, he acquired about 2.3 hectares of land from the group of families who were using the land for farming just as he had plan to embark on what may be described as integrated small holding farming scheme that would enable him maintain a large palm plantation that could grow palm seedlings.
The idea was to sell the seedlings to small scale plantation owners who would eventually become off takers and subsequently supply palm fruits to the palm oil processing mill. This was aimed at empowering many people and bringing development to the community.
He subsequently acquired about 30 hectares, bringing to about 33 hectares of land he owns at Aniagbala. Explaining further, he said “I bought these lands from a group of families at Aniagbala who were farming on the land. When I was negotiating to buy the land, the Obi-in-Council (Council of Chiefs) at Ubulu-Uku visited the land on site seeing. Since Aniagbala is part of Ubulu-Uku territory, the chiefs told me that naturally, an Ubulu-uku indigene does not buy land from the community but rather apply for land if it is for developmental purposes.
“I understood the Chiefs’ position but since I did not want to deprive the families that own the land, I offered not to deprive them of their entitlement and means of livelihood.
“Subsequently, the Obi-inCouncil approved my application and told me to go ahead and settle the owners of the land. I also paid what could be described as development levy to the Obi-in-Council, following which they gave me some documents indicating that I had duly paid for the land. I have the papers.
“Sequel to this, I went on to register the documents and did a survey of the land. I subsequently registered the survey plan. My company name 2N Oil Mill is clearly written on the sign post placed on the land at Aniagbala.”
He was therefore surprised when some persons assisted by about 40 Nigeria police personnel came to Aniagbala on Tuesday claiming ownership of the land. They contended that the land belongs to Edo-Ogwashi – a satellite community in Ogwashi-Uku kingdom, adding that a court judgement they were parading has given them the powers to take over any land belonging to Edo-Ogwashi since the community is part of the Ogwashi-Uku kingdom.
According to Ejiofor, when he initially got information on Monday from his Farm Manager about the visit of some agents who beat his workers and arrested them, he had planned to send his lawyer to verify the claim after securing the release of the arrested workers.
Surprisingly, he woke up on Tuesday to hear about the invasion of his land by the suspected grabbers from Ogwashi-Uku who were riding on the back of their monarch ostensibly based on the purported judgement over Edo-Ogwashi.
In all of this, Ejiofor has been wondering how people of Ogwashi-Uku could have the guts to invade Ubulu-Uku land with forged Certificate of Occupancy and Survey plan whereas Aniagbala does not share boundaries with Edo-Ogwashi which is far located.
The banker is further embarrassed by the attitude of the police authorities particularly the Inspector General of Police (IGP) who purportedly approved the use of Police personnel from Zone 5 headquarters in Benin-City to carry out the invasion.
The presence of the police and show of force with the land grabbers on their mission to Aniagbala was reportedly intimidating and leaves room for question as to why would IGP give approval for the use of police over land he did not know anything about.
According to Ejiofor, it has been discovered that Ogwashi-Uku leaders relied on some forged documents to obtain the Court judgement that purportedly empowered the invaders to forcefully take over a land which is not located within Ogwashi-Uku territory nor has him (Ejiofor) as a party to whichever case they may have had.
Following this alleged brazen display of forceful claim of ownership, the banker said his elder brother, Chief Emma Ejiofor got in touch with the Ogwashi-Uku monarch over the invasion of his brother’s land.
According to him, Obi Okonjo “categorically told my elder brother Chief Emma Ejiofor that they (Ogwashi-Uku) had judgement and they were executing it because Edo-Ogwashi is under the jurisdiction of Ogwashi-Uku and that Aniagbala is under Edo-Ogwashi.”
The King added that “Ogwashi-Uku people were trying to recover the land that was given to Ashi Industries Limited. The company belongs to a family in Ogwashi-Uku.Sequel to this position of the Ogwashi-Uku monarch, “we went to the Ministry of Lands and Survey and presented the map of Ubulu-Uku and Ogwashi-Uku with the boundaries. Edo-Ogwashi is very far away from Aniagbala and Ubulu-Okiti.”
In the light of this, Chief Ejiofor in turn wrote to Prince Onyema Okonjo, a brother to the king pointing out to him that the map available is showing Aniagbala as part of Ubulu-Uku and far away from Edo-Ogwashi.
It was gathered that soon as Prince Onyema Okonjo obviously realised the implications of it, he called Chief Ejiofor and started denying the royal family’s involvement in the purported recovery of the lands.
The Prince was said to have claimed that Ashi Industries Limited representatives were the people pursuing the recovery of their land. In turn, Chief Ejiofor asked him if members of the Ogwashi-Uku Royal family constituted part of Ashi Industries Limited. The Prince allegedly said no, but insisted that Ashi Industries Limited is owned by a large family with many brothers, wives, children and that they were the ones trying to recover the land.
Mr. Luke Ejiofor disclosed that it has been discovered that in 1980, Ashi Industries Limited forged some documents which the Ubulu-Uku monarch was aware of. The company was said to have used some forged documents to obtain Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) but unable to take possession of the land because the CofO was a product of forgery.
Ashi Industries Limited has claimed in the forged document that Aniagbala community sold the land to the company whereas Aniagbala people are under the leadership of Ubulu-Uku and did not have the right to sell the to the company. So it was obvious the document purporting the land to have been sold to them is fake.
Following the reaction that came with the forceful claim of Ejiofor’s land, the Ogwashi-Uku king is said to have slowed down and about to distance himself from the encroachment on Ejiofor’s land by pushing the matter to Ashi Industries Limited as being responsible for the invasion.
Meanwhile, Ejiofor has expressed the belief that the Inspector General of Police Kayode Egbetokun was misled into approving the use of police personnel for illegal operation. He has therefore urged the police boss to investigate the matter and fish out those who masterminded the illegal involvement of police men in land grab activity.