Persons Who Bought Land From the Nigerian Army, Effurun Must Renegotiate Their Title with original owners of the land or Remove Their Property , HRM. Emmanuel Sideso, Abe 1, JP. OON, the Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom has declared
He said while addressing his people who staged what they described an ‘Appreciation Walk’ early on Wednesday morning that the injustice and monumental trespass by the Nigerian Army robbed his people of farmlands and other resources resulting to rural and urban poverty.
The appreciation walk was following an Effurun High Court judgement early this week which declared the purported acquisition of parts of Ohore land in Uvwie Local Government Council by the Nigerian Army null and void.
The Uvwie monarch urged his people to always maintain peace and that didn’t mean they were cowards but justice would always be achieved through the judicial process, assuring them that all Uvwie land would be recovered in due time from trespassers
He recalled the history of the land which was graciously given out to the army for public good but unfortunately, only about 40per cent was now being used by the army while a large portion of the land now being sold to property developers instead of returning the land to the original owners.
To add insult to injury, the army illegally encroached into about 400 hectares of the community land.
He lampooned some Uvwie indigenes who cowardly started buying land from the army knowing fully well that the case was in court, describing them as traitors and that such people would not get the privilege of re-buying the land and might loose their property.
HRM Emmanuel Sideso thanked lawyer and activist Chief Victoria Otomiewo, Minister of Aviation, Chief Festus Keyamo SAN and the Delta state government for their support.
The land in question was acquired in 1975 by the Nigerian Army from the then Midwestern State government. In a letter with reference number NAE/2801/26/1/G. The land was acquired by the army for the construction of the present-day Effurun Barracks. Though the Land Use Act – which vests all land in the government that holds such land in trust for the people – was not yet promulgated at the time of acquisition, no compensation was paid to the families who owned the land as required by the law.
When the construction of the barracks was completed in 1979, a large portion of the land was unused and lying fallow for years. Rather than returning the rest to the owners who depend on the land for survival, some serving and retired army generals became clever and started to sell the land to investors and speculators, and rent out the rest to small-time traders who can afford to own a shop in the Mammy Market.
The Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, HRM Emmanuel Ekemejewa Sideso, Abe 1, JP. OON, said his people conceded that much size of land to the army because the Federal Government made them believe it wanted to build the main campus of the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) established in 1964 in Effurun. “We believed army education will bring development to the community,” But since the military academy was eventually located in Kaduna, the government decided to use the acquired land for the building of army barracks now known as 3 Battalion Barracks, Effurun. The total portion of land acquired in 1975 was 4,640 acres.
The certificate of occupancy obtained by the army in February 1994 shows that the army later appropriated additional 436 acres.
The extra, which puts the total land acquired at 5,076 acres, was taken without the approval of Uvwie people, the king said. Now, the land is sold at the price beyond the reach of the original owners, the people of Uvwie kingdom. And this is the genesis of the land dispute crisis.
