The people of Issele-Azagba community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State have urged the business tycoon, Obi Cubana, to stop the ongoing bulldozing of over 1.3 kilometer farmlands in their kingdom with the intention of taking it over for private investment, or instead, toe the path of peace by engaging the community in the hopes of doing the needful.
The businessman has proposed to use a land which has been in controversy between Issele-Azagba people and Okpanam – a community in Oshimili North Local Government Area, for his Millennium Estate Development in the State, but instead, encroached into a large expanse belonging whole to Issele-Azagba and away from the controversial portion.
The community has therefore warned him and his group to stop boasting that they have the backings of the state government to confiscate the vast farmland without recourse to the original owners.
The President-General of the Issele-Azagba Development Union (IADU), Chief Patrick Isichei, supported by 20 other chieftains of the kingdom’s Boundary Committee at a press conference in Asaba to protest the alleged injustice, said the community wants development but rejects the forceful entry of the businessman into their ancestral land.
He urged Cubana to stop bulldozing the farmlands of the community until he follows due process of land acquisition.
The PG said, “Cubana and his group has entered the heart of Issele-Azagba farmlands and destroyed properties to the chagrin of the indigenes. We are not anti-government or against investment. This is our ancestral land, our heritage. Cubana should know that this cannot happen in the community where he comes from. He should do the needful.”
Chief Isichei blamed the businessman for allegedly conniving with their neighbouring Okpanam kingdom in Oshimili North Local Government Area to disobey the decision of the state’s Land/Boundary Committee that stipulated status-quo on the disputed land between Issele-Azagba and Okpanam kingdoms.
He said Issele-Azagba contributed to the installation of successive administration in the state, and as such should not be taken for granted.
“Government of the state should tell Issele-Azagba on which side they are. Cubana is not from Delta. We own the land but government gives Certificate of Occupancy. We demand justice. Is Okpanam community more Deltan than Issele-Azagba? We have documented evidence to prove that the land belongs to us and not Okpanam. It is unfortunate that the government we ran to for help is now sitting on the fence”, he said.
He further lamented that Issele-Azagba was deceived into remaining law abiding after the Deputy Governor of the state, Sir Monday Onyeme, who is the chairman of the State’s Land/Boundary Committee, said Boundary Adjustment exercise would soon be completed.
He vowed that the community would deploy all available legitimate means to protect their heritage from land grabbers, should Cubana refuse to follow due process.
