Enugu Community Cries Out Over Alleged Land Grabbing

LAGOS – Isienu Amagunze Community in the Nkanu East Local Govern­ment Area of Enugu State has cried out for help over the alleged plan by one of the ministers of the federation to grab their land.

The community in a letter to the President Bola Tinubu, accused Chief Uche Nnaji, the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of attempting to grab their land.

They also alleged that the min­ister enjoyed the backing of his brother, Nnoli Nnaji, a member of the House of Representative.

The community, therefore, ap­pealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene in the matter and stop the minister and his brother from using federal might against the community.

In a letter entitled: ‘A Stitch In Time Saves Nine – Community Land Crisis Need Not Consume More Lives In Our Country,’ ad­dressed to Tinubu, the Isienu Amagunze Town Union (IATU) raised concerns about the “im­pending danger and time bomb” posed by the actions of the min­ister and his brother.

The town union condemned the actions of the two men.

The letter read in part: “They are wielding their Federal influ­ence to intimidate and attack our people, thereby undermining the harmonious relations that Nka­nu communities have enjoyed for generations.”

“In 1996, the former Nkanu Lo­cal Government Area was divid­ed into Nkanu East and Nkanu West LGAs, with Amagunze des­ignated as the headquarters of Nkanu East and Agbani retaining its status as the headquarters of Nkanu West.

“The traditional rulers, partic­ularly those from the boundary towns, endorsed the memoran­dum of understanding that es­tablished Nkanu East under the leadership of the late His Royal Highness Igwe Vincent Nnaji of blessed memory, who was the Igwe of Ndiuno Uwani Akpogu, the autonomous community adja­cent to Isienu Amagunze.”

The community declared that there had not been any land dis­pute between Ndiuno Akpogu and Isienu Amagunze, stressing that the two neighbouring com­munities had co-existed peace­fully for over 300 years until the last six years, coinciding with the acquisition of federal power by the aforementioned individ­uals.

“It is concerning that these men are not from the Ndiu­no-Uwani Akpogu community bordering Isienu Amagunze; they hail from a distant autonomous community, far removed from the boundary town,” the letter added.