On Thursday, thousands of members of the Achalla Community in Anambra State’s Awka North Local Government Area protested the unilateral transfer of disputed land to their neighboring community by marching to the government building in Awka.
The demonstrators, which included both young and old people, carried placards with a variety of messages and accused the LG of making the decision to cede their land to the nearby town of Urum without following the proper procedures.
The leader of the protesters and the Secretary-General of Achalla Improvement Union, Mr Calistus Nnakwue, who addressed journalists at the gate of the Government House, said a peace committee set up by the chairman of Awka North Local Government Area, sat several times over the disputed land but never invited any member of the Achalla Community before ceding the land to Urum community.
Nnakwue said the land has been in dispute between Achalla and Urum communities for over 20 years, describing the action of the LGA as unfair.
He said Achalla community members resorted to the peaceful protest to draw the attention of the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to the development and avert any unforeseen circumstances between the affected communities.
After registering their petition at the Governor’s Office, Nnakwue called for calm in the Achalla community, saying that he was satisfied with the assurances given to the delegation by government officials.
He said, “We are here to call the attention of the governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to the awarding of the land to the Urum community, even without hearing from our representatives.
“The land in question belongs to us, and we are calling on Soludo to set up a new committee to preside over the matter and give an unbiased verdict.
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“We are satisfied with the responses of government officials. We ask for calm in Achalla because we know that our governor will handle this matter satisfactorily. We were told that after two weeks, if nothing is done about it, we should return here (to Government House) to continue from where we stopped.”
Some of their placards, however, read, ‘We need a new and impartial and unbiased panel’, “We were not taken into consideration by the panel, and our report was not taken”, “A responsible panel cannot do land border demarcation without the consent of the affected communities”, among others.
But in his reaction to the development, the Commissioner for Lands, Prof. Ofornze Amaucheazi (SAN), said the records showed that all the affected parties were summoned to the meetings, but the Achalla people did not show up.
Amaucheazi, therefore, urged all the parties involved in the matter to furnish them with all the necessary documents that will enable the authorities to do justice to the case while calling for peace between the parties.
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