Awka Indigenes Fight for their Homeland

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

With the seeming disappearance of their heritage and land on their minds, the indigenes of Awka, which also doubles as the capital city of Anambra State, recently had a forum to tackle the issue as well as means to develop the town. 

Tagged Izu Umunna,the form which was convened by the Awka Development Union, Nigeria under the leadership of  Engineer Tony Okechukwu, had all spheres of the society in attendance.

Amongst other sundry issues that brought them together, the boiling point however was the issue of their heritage; their land, which they lamented is receding from a town to a village, making a mockery of  development that should be seen in a town that is a capital city.

A rough sketch of Awka map circulated by a group called Okwanka, claimed that apart from the the indigenous settlements, the Anambra State government had virtually acquired all empty lands in Awka.

The group stated that as far back as 1991, areas such as Ikenga Layout and Agu-Awka Industrial Layout were the only land in the hands of government, but today, the story has changed and places such as Aguniorgu, Uvunu, Inenzu, Iyi-Agu, Ifite  and the areas were Udoka Estate is located have all gone into the hands of government.

According to them, the only area yet to be taken according to the map is Amenyi, Nkwelle, Ezi Awka, Agulu-Awka and Amikwo.

According to the group's president, Engineer Kenneth Adigwe, the lands which were handed over to government for development by individuals have found their way into the hands of private users through government channel. 

He claimed that most civil servants in the state are now engaged in on land deal or the other conniving with so called developer to speculate on Awka lands. In their address, the group called on members of the public to stop buying land from all these speculators and civil servants in the state. 

The group said their grouse was that the 62,218 plots of lands amounting to N249billion which were taken from the indigenes for the sole purpose of building a housing estate has been handed over to land speculators who are now feeding fat from it. 

The group added that it was more painful seeing that  these lands were freely given to the government for the purpose of development. Adigwe said the issue of land which had been very contentious in most communities within the country remains one issue the sons of Awka decided to tackle headlong.

He noted that although over 2800 hectares of land consisting of 62,218 plots which represents about 70 per cent of Awka which were confiscated by past civilian governments, had been  appropriately by government for the development of the capital territory, majority of the lands had allegedly  gone into private hands.

To buttress his claims, Okwanka said the Ngozika Estate Phase II, which has about 1,542 plots were allegedly handed over to a developer who now sells the land for N6million per plot, adding that the market price for the 1,437  plot given to the developer is put at N8.6billion.

Only recently, Okwanka said scores of youths from villages in Awka, took to the streets to protest alleged illegal  acquisition of their land by these greedy land speculators and government agents.

Waving placards as they moved from one part of Awka to the other, the protesters gave the state government a two-week ultimatum to stop those they tagged a cabal from their shady deals.

Their chairman, Comrade Obi Ochije, who addressed a large crowd of people at the popular Aroma junction in the heart of the state capital, alleged that some individuals sold a large expanse of land belonging to Ezinano community to some unnamed persons without recourse to the original owners.

According to him, over 70 hectares of land was sold with each plot sold N6.1 million by the group which pocketed the money.

He said, “The youths have been restive over this matter and that is why we have decided to embark on this peaceful protest. We do not want to cause any violence, but if nothing is done on this issue within the two weeks, the youths will react appropriately.

“Ezinano community comprising 20 villages is the original owner of the land. Our agreement with the state government is that if it acquires the land, it should be used for projects that will be beneficial to the people, but what is happening is different from the agreement reached with the community”.

The protest by Ezinano community was just one out of many, over 20 law suits have been instituted in various courts in the state to ensure that justice is done and the people of Awka are hoping that the government must take steps to address these injustices.