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The sleepy community of Owerre Ohodo in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State is currently enmeshed in a gripping crisis over the alleged fraudulent acquisition of ancestral family land, desecration of a family deity, and the mysterious deaths that have followed.
At the centre of the storm is the Federal Polytechnic, Ohodo, which is accused of forcefully taking over about 40 acres of ancestral land belonging to the Umu Ogbonogu family in Umu Elim, Owere Autonomous Community, without consultation, compensation, or due process.
The family alleges that the desecration of their ancestral shrine, where their forefathers were buried, has turned the deity against them, resulting in the death of no fewer than five family members.
In a damning interview with 247ureports.com, Ikechukwu Asogwa, a member of the Umu Ogbonogu family, narrated how their ancestral land was forcibly taken, their shrine sealed off, and their people denied the right to worship, leading to a chain of mysterious deaths.
‘We Woke Up One Day And Saw Our Place Barricaded’
Asogwa said the land was taken without any consultation, interface, or discussion with the rightful owners, describing the acquisition as illegal and fraudulent.
“I am directly from Umu Ogbonogu clan, where our ancestral land was forcibly taken without consultations, no interface, no discussions, nothing. And I would not say the land was acquired because if you talk about acquisition or retention of a land, there are processes by which the owners of the land will be consulted.
“In our case, such a thing never happened. We didn’t even know. We woke up one day and saw that our place has been barricaded, being subjugated,” he said.
Asogwa lamented that the worst scenario was the sealing of a very big shrine on the land, which denied his people their fundamental human right to worship.
“There is a very big shrine in that particular place. You can now see where somebody’s fundamental human right is being tampered with. Where we look at the law that says freedom of worship, it is my fundamental right to worship where I choose to worship. But in our case, we were denied that right, outrightly,” he said.
‘Ohodo Has No Communal Land, Only Family Lands’
Asogwa explained that unlike other communities in Enugu State where land is communally owned and the Igwe or President General has legal rights over it, Ohodo has no communal land.
“In my place, Ohodo, where I come from, we don’t have such. We don’t have any communal land. What we have in my place is nothing but family lands. Ancestral lands and family lands. There’s no place in my community where you could say that this land belongs to the community, the Igwe of a town or the PG of a town has a right to go there and do anything.
“But in our case, they did it because they felt like nobody is in that place. Who is going to talk for them? Brazenly, they did it because they felt like who is going to talk for them? They don’t have anybody. They don’t have mouth to speak. We have the authority, we have everything. We could do whatever thing we wanted. And that was exactly what they did in my place,” he said.
‘Interlopers Signed Off Our Land’
The family head alleged that a group of individuals who have no affiliation with the land signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and forged signatures on behalf of his family.
“No meeting with the families, no consultation with the families, no interface with the families, nothing, absolutely nothing! What we saw was that a group of people just went and signed a document. A group of individuals signed MOU of a man’s land. They have no business—they are all interlopers!
“The people who signed those documents, who forged those documents, who forged those signatures on behalf of my family were not even from my quarter. They are not even from Owerre Ohodo,” he said.
He named Chief Igwe David Asogwa, Chief Alphonsus Ugwuafia, the then PG of Ohodo town, and Engineer Hyacinth Eze, of Achara Ohodo, as the three persons who signed the documents.
“The Igwe who signed that… the two Igwes that signed that thing were not even from my town. These are Igwes from other communities. They have nothing to do with that place, nothing, absolutely nothing! The PG who signed was not even from my place,” he said.
‘We Buried All Our Generations There’
Asogwa emphasised that the land in question is not just any land but the final resting place of their forefathers.
“This is family land where people’s parents were buried. All my generations were buried in that place, all my generations!
“And the worst thing they did was to barricade that place and stop my people from going to that shrine. And the story changed, because the land has been desecrated. The deity turned against my people because we couldn’t do anything, and started killing my people one by one.
“That was the report I wrote. About five persons have gone from my family just because of this thing they did. About that land, money was given, no accountability, no remorseful… They were not remorseful that they have done something that is not good. They were bragging they could do this, they could do that, who is going to talk for us?” he said.
‘They Shared Appointments Among Themselves, Sold Some’
Asogwa further alleged that appointments meant for the host community were hijacked by the same group of individuals who grabbed the land and shared among themselves, with some sold to the highest bidder.
“They brought appointments, so many appointments came, and those appointments came directly for the host communities. The people you took their land, the people you sealed their shrine—their place of worship—never knew that appointment came for them.
“The same group of individuals who have assumed, who have grabbed our ancestral land, went and collected those appointments and shared among themselves. Some were sold! In fact, a good number of them were sold. The rightful owners of the land were denied employment, whereas their land was forcibly taken.
“Now you gave appointments to people who do not have any say in the land. You gave appointments to people who do not have anything to do with the land. They were the people working there. The owners of the land you forcefully took from them are not working.
“And what did they tell my people? They said they wanted to help us, so we should bring one person who is a scout [cleaner/gatekeeper level] so that the person can be offered the job in the school, and we laughed. Because it was an insult to my people with the calibre of people that is in my family. We didn’t do anything,” he said.
‘They Squandered Take-Off Grant, Killed Our Secondary School’
Asogwa also accused the same land grabbers of squandering the take-off grant provided by the former Enugu State Governor and destroying the Akutara Community Secondary School, Ohodo, (historically known as Community Secondary School, Ohodo) in the process.
“The temporary site where the school took off, that place was acquired by the old Anambra State. And you know you don’t do acquisition of land twice. Government owns there.
“And when the polytechnic came, the then governor of Enugu State, in his own wisdom, said okay, there should be a take-off grant, let us use the secondary school. He dropped money as well, because a pre-action notice has been written to this regard. And they knew, they knew the truth.
“Money was given for the take-off grant. Where is the money? The German will say kaput. So, that was it. Where is the money today? Kaput.
“There was money given by the governor on his own judgment and wisdom to take off that place and relocate those wards to a better, conducive area where they could study. What did they do? They took them to Union Primary School, a very unconducive place. Squandered the money given by the governor, and now told the Ohodo people to contribute money so that they could build another place for the pupils to be going to classes, which eventually never happened.
“So the secondary school, community secondary school Ohodo is as good as dead. Because I don’t think if they have up to 30 people going to that school again. They have chosen to go to private schools because that one is dead. And that was how they killed that secondary school that most of us attended.
“As I speak to you now, if you go down to that place, you’ll find out that nobody is coming to school today. Nobody is going to school there, because the place is not worthy to be a secondary school,” he said.
‘Development At Your Detriment Is No Development’
Asogwa said the family is not opposed to development but insisted that it must not come at their detriment.
“We—the people of Umu Ogbonogu—never said we don’t want development, but if development comes at your own detriment, it is no more development! We are demanding… we should know who and who signed on our behalf, and how did they come up with that idea to sign on behalf of us without talking to us first?
“Because if not because my people are so civil… You understand as a journalist that this is what causes local war. At least by now, a lot of people would have been dying in my community or thereabouts. But we are civil people. We wanted a redress from the court so that they will interpret to us and tell us if somebody could just go to somebody’s ancestral land and shrine and block them without talking to them.
“I have never seen anywhere in my entire life where government takes somebody’s land without talking to them, without having an MOU with those people. I have never seen where it… except in Owere-Ere Ohodo!” he said.
He cited the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, as a case study where the host communities were consulted before the land was taken.
“Just like the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. When you hear University of Nigeria, Nsukka, a man from Nguru does not have anything to do with what is happening in UNN. There are people who own that land: the Owerre-Erobas, the Obopas, and the Edemites. These are the people that own that school, and these are people that the authorities met, discussed, before that land was taken.
“So, because the Federal Polytechnic is bearing Ohodo does not mean that Ohodo owns the land!” he said.
‘They Constituted Kangaroo Committee To Frustrate Us’
Asogwa said after the family petitioned the National Security Adviser (NSA), the accused persons were invited to Abuja but resorted to begging and constituting a kangaroo committee to frustrate the resolution process.
“What did they do? They sat there and constituted a committee. Committee that will go between the polytechnic and the people that their land were taken. And what did they do? They brought people who have no business with the land, who are not even from my community, made them the chairman, the secretary, and the whatever. And those people have their own ulterior motives. They started writing to the school without involving people whom their land were taken.
“As a PG of the community where the land was taken, even if I’m not directly involved as a member of the clan of Umu Ogbonogu, statutorily, no! In every meeting you call in my community, I have that legal right to be among.
“I am the administrative head of that community. So, you cannot be doing anything in my community and you are taking me out. What did they do? They knew my stand ab initio, so what they did was to make sure I did not come into the picture. They went and took some miscreants, you know, those people they could talk to and they would just listen, and they constituted that committee,” he said.
‘We Want The Fence Removed, Our Shrine Relocated’
Another member of the family, Speaker 3, who also spoke during the interview, pleaded with the authorities to remove the fence, allow them to rebury their loved ones, and perform traditional rituals to stop the deaths.
“What we are pleading… To avoid people that are dying from our community, what we want to do is that, what we wish, our plea is that they will come and remove that fence they did, and remove that fence entirely, did you get? Remove everything there.
“If they want to acquire that land, we are ready to give it to them, but with arrangement, with agreement, so that we will rebury our loved ones there. There are traditional rituals that will be done, and those people that were buried there will be reburied, and there’s a ritual that will be done so that our shrine there will be relocated to another place so that people will stop dying, and we sacrifice and sanctify the land so that more people will not die anymore.
“So, if they want to take the land, they can come to us officially. We will negotiate with them, write Memorandum of Understanding, and they will take it, because youths are ready to take laws into their hands. So, that’s all we want,” he said.
While Igwe Asogwa and former PG acknowledged and confirmed that they signed the ownership of the land and MoU, Igwe Eze declined comment, insisting that he cannot speak on telephone.
Background
247ureports.com had previously reported how the Federal Polytechnic, Ohodo, was enmeshed in a land-grabbing scandal involving the ancestral land of the Umu Ogbonogu family.
The family had accused the institution of forging documents and signatures to acquire the land without consultation, leading to the desecration of their ancestral shrine and the mysterious deaths of five family members.
Despite petitions to the NSA and a pre-action notice to the court, the institution allegedly went ahead to fence off the land, prompting the family to cry out for justice.
The family is demanding a comprehensive investigation into the land grab, the removal of the fence, and a proper negotiation for the acquisition of the land to enable them to perform traditional rites and rebury their loved ones.
