High Chief Emma Nwaobilor features in Community Reporters’ coverage of Etche LGA’s warning against land grabbing and allegations concerning a disputed parcel of land.
Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State has declared that it will not relent in its fight against land-grabbing activities in the area. The Chairman of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee of the LGA, High Chief Emma Nwaobilor, stated this in a telephone interview with the publisher of Community Reporters, Kingdom Chieche Nwafor, while reacting to a viral video circulating on social media, made by activist and lawyer, Chetam Nwala Esq., in which he alleged that the Council, through the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, was violating a court order by proceeding with mediation over a disputed parcel of land involving the people of Umuchoko in Chokota, Etche Local Government Area, and Favour Estate, while the matter was pending in court with an order for the status quo to be maintained.
He further alleged that the Council, through the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, had mandated the occupants of Favour Estate to pay the sum of N250 million, out of which N2 million was allegedly paid into a private company account which he claimed belonged to the Chairman of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee of Etche Local Government Area, High Chief Emma Nwaobilor.
Reacting to the allegations, the Chairman of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, High Chief Emma Nwaobilor, dismissed them as desperate attempts by alleged beneficiaries of land grabbing in Etche to distract the committee from continuing its quest to free the people of Etche from the menace of land grabbing.
He insisted that the land on which Favour Estate is situated was grabbed, adding that the aim and objective of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee of Etche Local Government is to recover grabbed lands and return them to their original owners. He maintained that no amount of shouting by Chetam Nwala Esq. and his alleged cohorts would distract the committee from performing that function.
He challenged Chetam Nwala Esq., Favour Estate and others to produce documented evidence proving that they legally acquired the disputed land from the indigenes of Umuchoko in Chokota. He said the findings of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee showed that the disputed land involving the people of Umuchoko and Favour Estate was part of the areas allegedly grabbed by Ndubuisi Anunuaba.
He also stated that, in the course of mediating between the people of Umuchoko and Favour Estate, the latter offered to pay the community N30 million. He said he questioned the offer, asking why Favour Estate would offer N30 million to remain on land it claimed to have legally acquired from the community. According to him, the question remained unanswered.
On the allegation that the committee had disobeyed a court order directing that the status quo be maintained, High Chief Nwaobilor said the committee had not disobeyed any court order. He explained that, before the court order was issued, the matter was already before the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, while both the people of Umuchoko and Favour Estate were occupying the disputed land. He said the status quo, in their understanding, meant maintaining the situation as it existed before the matter went to court.
He added that, while the matter was pending in court following the order for the status quo to be maintained, it was the people of Favour Estate who approached the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee and requested that it continue handling the matter, allegedly sensing that they might not obtain a favourable judgment because they lacked documents proving that they had legally acquired the land from the indigenes of Umuchoko.
High Chief Nwaobilor said that, while the committee was trying to settle the matter amicably, the people of Favour Estate went to C4I, brought in the police and began arresting members of the Umuchoko community. He said the committee subsequently went to C4I and informed the authorities that the matter was before the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee of Etche Local Government Area. According to him, the C4I commander then referred the parties back to the committee.
He said the parties returned to the committee, and while it was still trying to broker peace, the people of Umuchoko requested that Favour Estate provide evidence that it had purchased the land from the community’s indigenes. They maintained that they would withdraw from the matter if such evidence was produced. Based on this, the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee directed the people of Favour Estate to produce a comprehensive list of those residing on the disputed land, together with their proof of purchase, so that the matter could be settled once and for all.
He said the committee was shocked to discover that almost all the people living on the land did not have deeds of conveyance, which, in his view, indicated that the land had been grabbed. He made it clear that if anybody grabbed land in Etche, the local government would recover it and return it to its original owners, irrespective of how many years the person had occupied the land or who was involved.
He said that, following the committee’s request, the people of Favour Estate pleaded for more time to resolve the matter with the community. The committee granted their request and directed them to report back so that its records could be updated on the matter. However, he said another dispute suddenly broke out between the community and the people of Favour Estate.
He said he informed the Chairman of the Local Government, following which the committee summoned the parties again. According to him, instead of appearing with the comprehensive list of those who had purchased land within the disputed area, alongside their proof of purchase, the people of Favour Estate decided to come with Chetam Nwala Esq. He alleged that the Chairman of Favour Estate, Mr. Lucky Anyanwu, had earlier informed him that they had a lawyer from Etche named Chetam Nwala, who was a member of the estate and had a property there.
He said that when they arrived with Chetam Nwala Esq., the lawyer began shouting. It was at that point, he said, that the committee insisted that the right thing must not only be done but must also be seen to be done. He noted that the committee would not be intimidated by anybody, irrespective of the individual’s status or connections, adding that the fight against land grabbing in Etche Local Government Area must continue.
On the allegation that Etche Local Government, through the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, was using the name of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to intimidate the police into securing the release of some Umuchoko people arrested by the police, High Chief Nwaobilor dismissed the allegation as false. He stated that neither the Local Government Chairman nor the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee had mentioned the FCT Minister or anybody else to the police for the purpose of securing the release of those arrested. He said they were operating strictly as Etche Local Government and nothing more.
Reacting to the allegation that the occupants of Favour Estate had been asked to pay him N250 million through a private company account, High Chief Nwaobilor said such a thing had never happened, either at the instance of the Local Government Chairman, himself or any member of the committee. He described the allegation as a calculated attempt by Chetam Nwala Esq. and his alleged co-beneficiaries of the grabbed land to discredit the committee and gain public sympathy so that they could continue what he described as their evil activities against the people of Etche.
He said those allegedly involved would continue to fail because the fight against land grabbing in Etche had come to stay. He added that there would be no hiding place for land grabbers in Etche Local Government Area as long as Chief Hon. Chima Boniface Njoku remained the Executive Chairman of the local government and the Anti-Land Grabbing, Land Acquisition and Land Management Committee remained in place.
He further alleged that Chetam Nwala Esq. was shouting because he and his alleged co-beneficiaries of the disputed land involving the people of Umuchoko and Favour Estate lacked proof that they had legally acquired the land and would therefore lose woefully in court. He said this was the reason they had been running from pillar to post in an attempt to intimidate members of the community through different means.
He also said one of the reasons Chetam Nwala Esq. and his alleged co-beneficiaries had resorted to a media trail was that the claims and methods they had allegedly used over the years to convince security agencies, resulting in the constant intimidation, harassment and arrest of the indigenes of Etche who they allegedly dispossessed of their ancestral land, had failed. According to him, the relevant security agencies now knew the truth and were ready to stand by it.
He questioned why a lawyer who was also a party to a matter he claimed was pending in court would resort to a social media trail, alleging that it was because he had sensed that the matter might not go in his favour due to a lack of proof that he and his alleged co-beneficiaries had legally acquired the land in question. He advised Chetam Nwala Esq. to return to court to enforce the contempt proceedings if he believed that a court order had been violated, rather than resorting to a social media trail as a tool to discredit the committee and gain public sympathy.
Also responding to the allegation that N2 million had been paid into a private company account allegedly belonging to the Chairman of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, a director of the company said they would not join issues with Chetam Nwala Esq. or anyone else linking the company to a legitimate business transaction that had absolutely nothing to do with the disputed land. He made it clear that the company would sue Chetam Nwala Esq. and require him to prove his allegation against the company in court.
In an interesting twist, Etche Local Government Area has accused Chetam Nwala Esq. of allegedly receiving a gift of land within the disputed area involving the people of Umuchoko in Chokota and Favour Estate in Etche Local Government Area. The allegation was made by the Chairman of the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee, High Chief Emma Nwaobilor, in a separate interview with the publisher of Community Reporters, Kingdom Chieche Nwafor.
High Chief Nwaobilor stated that preliminary reports available to his committee revealed that Chetam Nwala Esq. was not merely a legal representative of Favour Estate but was also allegedly part of the estate, having a property built on land he allegedly received as a gift from the disputed area. He alleged that this made the lawyer one of the people causing problems in Etche Local Government Area.
He said that, following this revelation, the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee had commenced an investigation to ascertain Chetam Nwala’s involvement in the disputed land. He added that, if his involvement was established, his house would not stand, High Chief Nwaobilor stated.
Citing some Supreme Court rulings on the validity of illegal foundations, High Chief Nwaobilor declared, “You cannot put something on nothing and expect it to stand.” He specifically mentioned the Supreme Court rulings in Macfoy v. U.A.C. Ltd., Osafile v. Odi and Buhari v. Adebayo (2022) 13 NWLR (Pt. 1848) 229. He said the principle principally applies where an act or transaction has no valid or legal foundation, in which case anything subsequently built upon that illegal foundation is liable to collapse.
In conclusion, High Chief Emma Nwaobilor said Etche Local Government was not a captured territory for land grabbers, describing Etche as a creation of law. He maintained that no amount of media trail would distract the Anti-Land Grabbing Committee under his watch. He added that, with the continued support of the Executive Chairman of Etche Local Government, Chief Chima Boniface Njoku, and the good people of Etche, the committee remained resolute and committed to ending land grabbing and illegal land acquisition activities across Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Community Reporters will continue to monitor events as they unfold and report every detail of the story.
Stay Tuned.
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