Gov Mbah, Owo Community Kinsmen on Edge as Army Moves to Evict Inhabitants

•Army claims it owns Enugu governor’s hometown

•Inhabitants insist they live on ancestral land

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

A cloud of fear and uncertainty has enveloped Owo Community in Nkanu East Local Government of Enugu State following the plan by the Nigerian Army to evict the inhabitants and render them homeless.

The Army has for years been laying claim to ownership of the entire land on which Owo community is situated, a move the Counsel to Owo Community, Igwenagu Ngene has called military conquest.

If the Army eventually carries out its threat of eviction and demolition of the community, the Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Peter Mbah, who is from Owo, and all his kinsmen and residents would lose their homes.

With the uncertain fate staring them in the face the people of Owo rose in protest yesterday, decrying the alleged invasion of their ancestral land by the Army.

They called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and save the community from the threat of being thrown out and rendered homeless from their age-long habitation.

The protesters comprising community leaders, village heads, women, youths, and even the elderly trooped out as early as 8.00am singing songs of grievance and brandishing placards depicting their mood.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: “Remove soldiers, restore peace”; “Owo land is not barracks”; “Stop the invasion”; “Respect the constitution”; “Say No to Military Land Grabbing,” “President Tinubu, save us from military intimidation”; “Army, leave our land alone”.
They also alleged acts of intimidation by the Army, and misusing of security assets entrusted to them by the constitution, to create tension in the community despite a subsisting court injunction.

But the spokesman of NA 82 Division, Enugu, Lt Col Olabisi Ayeni, who was contacted over the land dispute with Owo community, said that he would investigate the issues raised. He also demanded evidence of the alleged harassment and intimidation of Owo people.

However, the traditional ruler of Owo community, Igwe Godwin Okeke Arum, could barely control his tears when he spoke with journalists at his palace, narrating the sad experience of his people.

He alleged that Army operatives have been molesting his subjects, and also demolishing ongoing projects as well as chasing investors away from the community.

“It is disheartening that a whole community will be asked to quit to nowhere for no reason other than the fact that some people are wielding guns and jackboots bought with taxpayers’ money,” he lamented.

According to him, a team from the Army came to Owo “sometime in 2015 and started mounting billboards around the entire community, asking us to quit, that this is Army land”.

“We became astonished and we engaged our legal advisor. But they (Army) are not heeding the (orders of) courts or rule of law,” the royal father said.
“The Army has even threatened to take over my palace, locations of our community shrines, and ancestral home of the governor, who is father of the state. Can you imagine that?”

The President-General of Owo Community, Chief John Ogbu, specifically appealed to both the state and the federal government to come and free their community from the vice grip of the Army before it’s too late.

He said: “This is a direct plea to President Bola Tinubu as the father of the nation to come to our aid. He should halt this attempt to snatch our lands at gunpoint.

“The Army has continued to make life unbearable for our people through their acts of intimidation and abuse of power and their guns.
“As I speak, our people can no longer go to their farms freely for fear of heavily armed soldiers that have taken over the entire community.
The PG stated that the alleged military invasion was killing the local economy as “investors who are flocking into Owo are being turned back by military fiat”.

“This is a democracy, not a military rule, hence we seek the president’s protection. The Army is not above the courts or laws of Enugu State and Nigeria,” he said.

The counsel to Owo community, Igwenagu Ngene, who earlier addressed journalists after the protest, said that people started living in fear for the first time in November 2015. On that fateful day, he said, the community woke up to a rude shock of the military occupation, with their buildings marked, “Remove, Army land, keep off.”

Ngene further stated that the soldiers mounted billboards and beacons in every nook and cranny of Owo, claiming that the entire community belonged to the Nigerian Army.

He said that the community has taken the matter to relevant authorities at various levels, including GOC 82 Division Enugu, Enugu State Government, and House of Assembly.

Ngene said that the Army calmed down after interventions were made but came back with full force in April 2025 prompting the community to approach the court of law which granted an injunction in suit number 375/2025, being defied by the Army.

He stated that the people of Owo consider the land ownership claim by the Army as “a case of annihilation, land grab, and an invasion of a whole community that is unknown to law and unheard of”.

“Except in a case of military conquest, where after conquering, you possibly annex it and make it part of your own; but this is not the case here,” he said.