By David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
If urgent steps are not taken, the peace enjoyed currently by people of Osile Ogbunike in Oyi Council Area, and their neighbours, Nkwele Ezunaka and Ezi-Nkwelle villages all in the same council may be a thing of the past, indigenes of the area have said.
People of Osile, therefore, called on the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Willie Obiano to wade into the boundary disputes that has plagued the people.
Speaking after a town hall meeting on Saturday, Osile people accused their neighbours selling their land to unsuspecting developers who were developing them rapidly.
Speaking to journalists on behalf of his community, the President-General of Osile, Ogbunike, Mr Donatus Mbanefo said they had obtained a Supreme Court judgement on the disputed land in 2012 which ruled that the land in question was theirs.
Mbanefo said the judgment with accompanying survey plan had been submitted to the Anambra boundary commission with public announcement issued but wondered why it had not been enforced.
He warned members of the public who were buying and developing the community’s land from people of the neighbouring community to stop until the boundaries were demarcated.
He said they should also stop further construction works or forfeit their investment as the Osile people would use every lawful means to reclaim their heritage.
“We the people of Osile, Ogbunike hereby notify all the illegal occupants, trespassers and those destroying Osile farmlands at Ogu Osile, that Agu Osile land is not for grabbing, we advise that they pull down out as we will employ all legal means to remove them.
“Osile people have government approved layout which was registered in 1991 and nobody has been authority to alter the layout and nobody has the authority to sell or re-sell.
“We therefore plead with the general public to stay away from the land and also call on all to obey the judgement of the Apex Court on the matter.
“We hereby demand the Anambra government through the Boundaries Commission to do a comprehensive land demarcation between Osile and our Neighbours to forestall breakdown of law and order,” he said.
Also speaking, a lawyer from Rotimi Williams Chambers, counsel to Osile Ogbunike on the land, Mr Benson Olagbade said there Supreme Court judgment of 2012 put paid to the land dispute.
Ends.
