By Dr Kenechukwu Orji
The media everywhere in the world fight for the less privileged. However, some crafty individuals and groups often attempt to manipulate this media leaning by framing themselves as victims even when they are the aggressors.
This is the case with a faction of squatters in Onuogba Nike in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State who are claiming the ownership of a parcel of the land in the Onuogba Community belonging to Professor Bart Nnaji, a former Minister of Power. They have been moving from one media house to another portraying themselves as hapless victims while projecting Professor Nnaji as a man of means confiscating their land. They have even held a press conference where they claimed Onuogba Nike as their ancestral homeland.
How this community can claim Onuogba Nike to be their ancestral home is a puzzle because they proudly acknowledge that they started coming to Onuogba only in 1958 as mercenaries in an inter-village fight. They hail from the Ezza Nkomoro community in Ezza Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, and some of them arrived in Onuagba as recently as this year. In other words, they do not mince words that the Nkomoro community in Ebonyi State is their ancestral land.
To state the obvious, the land in question originally belonged to the Onuogba people of Nike who are part of the Nkanu sub-Igbo ethnic group in Enugu State. It is unfair to the history of the Nkanu people for a faction of the Ezza Nkomoro squatters to claim the land.
The Onuogba leaders and people have on several occasions made it abundantly clear that they never gave the parcel of land belonging to Prof Nnaji which is in the Ndume part of their community to the Ezza Nkomoro mercenaries as compensation for fighting for them. The Onuogba people rather gave them land in Ogbanu to farm and pay rent to them, as testified by Chief Emmanuel Ubochi, President General of the Onuogba Community, at a news conference in Enugu on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
The parcel of land belonging to Nnaji was sold to him in 2005 by the late Chief Hyacinth Alinta, a well-known entrepreneur, who acquired it from the original owners in 1977. It was a legitimate transaction. The C of O was issued to Chief Alinta by the old Anambra State Government and given Number EN/SDR/NW/464/87/ANS. Chief Alinta subsequently passed on the C of O to Prof Nnaji in 2005 when he paid for the land.
Though the globally famous engineering professor acquired the land to start building an auto parts manufacturing firm, he allowed the Ezza Nkomoro squatters some years to prepare to relocate purely on compassionate grounds. A few years ago when Nnaji decided to develop the place, the squatters approached Bishop Callistus Onaga of the Enugu Catholic Diocese to request Prof Nnaji, a devout Catholic, to give them a little more time. Nnaji accepted the bishop’s plea. He even pledged up to N1million each to assist some of the squatters. Bishop Onaga and the Parish Priest of the Catholic Church in Onuogba asked them to register with them for financial assistance, but they spurned the gesture.
The squatters instead chose to build all manner of structures there to create the impression that they have sucessfully seized the land. They put up the structures without any Certificate of Occupancy because Prof Nnaji is the person with the C of O. They erected structures without any building plans approved by the Enugu East LG because they know it is impossible to get such approvals. They are squatters. That’s why they lost to the Chief Alinta family in the judgment delivered on January 21, 2013, by Mr. Justice E. N. Oluedo of the Enugu State High Court. That’s why the courts have bluntly refused to give them a stay of execution as they requested but instead asked the landowner to execute the judgment.
It is self-evident that these squatters have been abusing Prof Nnaji’s patience and generosity. It is provocative for them to brand the landowner a landgrabber whereas they are the real landgrabbers. It is provocative for them to go on a relentless calumny campaign in the media against the landowner, and it is disingenuous for them to portray themselves as Nigeria’s David and Nnaji as Goliath. It is provocative to the Onuogba people who are their hosts for Ezza Nkomoro elements to declare the Onuogba community their ancestral land. It is reckless to claim the ownership of any piece of land in the 21st century without any evidence whatsoever. It is primitive to threaten the owner of any asset with tremendous violence when he seeks to develop his property.
Despite these provocative acts, we appeal to Prof Nnaji to consider the request by a faction of Ezza Nkomoro squatters to sell a portion of the parcel of land to them purely on compassionate grounds. We appeal to him to consider selling to them at below-the-going market rates in recognition of Nigeria’s economic stress which affects everyone. And in view of the economic hardship, we also encourage him to allow staggered payment. We believe that Prof Nnaji’s acceptance of our appeal will result in a win-win for every party. This will be the beginning of the healing process needed in the Onuogba community of Nike. Long live, Enugu State.
Dr Kenechukwu Orji is Secretary, Enugu Indigenous Professionals
