By Austin Ogwuda
… vows to resist such brazen intimidation and forceful dispossession through every lawful means
People of Issele Azagba community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State, South South, Nigeria have called on the Delta State governor, Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori to urgently intervene to douse the rising tension in the community following what it describes as the encroachment on its ancestral farmland by developers of the proposed Cubana Millennium Estate.
Community leaders led by the President General of the Issele-Azagba Development Union, Elder Patrick Isichei addressed a press conference at NUJ Press Centre in Asaba on Monday to drive home their message in addition to an Open Letter submitted to the Delta State Governor.
The community is protesting that despite an ongoing boundary adjustment exercise between Issele-Azagba and neighbouring Okpanam community which has not been completed, posited that any development activity at this stage here is both unlawful and provocative.
Said he, “Issele Azagba community welcomes development projects but opposes what it sees as the forceful takeover of our land.
“We are not anti-investment, but the Cubana Group should come to do the needful and not to forcefully acquire our lands.
“As law-abiding citizens of Delta State, we want our voice heard. Our patience must not be seen as surrender or weakness”.
Also speaking at the briefing, Hon. Ike Augustin Ijeh said the community was surprised to find that the land which historically belongs to Issele Azagba is forcefully taken Cubana group.
He noted that the annoying aspect of it is that the documents Cubana is processing for the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) on the said land bear Okpanam.
“This is our ancestral land, our heritage. Choosing to obey the law doesn’t make us cowards”, Ijeh stated.
Although he commended the State government for its earlier attempts to reduce tensions but criticised what he called a troubling silence from its end.
“Are we no longer Deltans? No community is more Deltan than Azagba. We have supported the government in all ways, including bulk votes during elections and had never voted in the opposition outside the ruling party.
Ijeh demanded that the government should therefore come clean by making its position clear.
“Is it because we have no one in government to speak for us? We have fully complied with the Deputy Governor’s earlier directive asking both communities to stay off disputed lands until the boundary committee completes its work. But the developers’ presence violates that order and may cause unrest.
“We are now appealing to the Delta State Government to take urgent and decisive action to stop all development activities on the land, enforce the stay-off directive, complete the boundary adjustment process, prevent further tension or conflict, and ensure that due process is followed to avoid threat to peace”, he concluded.
*Issele Azagba community during the press conference. Seated 4th from left is Elder Partick Isichei; on his immediate left is Hon. Ike Augustin Ijeh among other notable community leaders
