Protest Rocks Obosi over construction of Mega Smart City
By Chukwudum Ebele
Over twenty members of the families of Umu Ogbunamili, Umu Ekwulugo in Opi, Umu Agu, Umu Oduga, Umu Ora Akposim, Umu Ilokwe in Agbaja, Umu Chiakwelu, Umu Ejimuche has called on the state government and security agencies and relevant stakeholders to save them from the hand of thugs and hoodlums over ownership of their ancestral land in Obosi in Idemili North local government of Anambra state
The family members made this known on Wednesday during a protest to demonstrate their grievances over what they described as attempts of land grabbing of their ancestral land by some unscrupulous land grabbers who claim they have bought the land from the traditional ruler of Obosi Igwe Chukwudubem Iweka III
The protesters who carried placards with various inscriptions such as "Gov Soludo save our Soul" They are killing us , Obosi must be great again,We are for soul city" said they had entered a contractual land agreement with a Real estate developing firm Soul City Integrated Resources limited for the purpose of construction of a smart mega city estate.
Speaking on behalf of one of the family members a Septugenarian Emeka Anyaefulu noted that they have been prevented several times by thugs armed with matchet and guns from gaining access to the land .
"The Igwe of Obosi and the so called Obosi land committee has prevented us from access to our land ,and we are being threatened ,our lives are in danger, meanwhile our land is being sold of to the highest bidder ,this is injustice of the highest order so we are hear to cry to Gov Soludo and all security agencies of the state and federal government to come and save us from the hands of our oppressors ,enough is enough"
The director of Soul City Integrated Limited Mr Michael Nnamdi Nwokoye who also accused the traditional ruler of Obosi Igwe Chukwudubem Iweka of disrupting plans of building a mega smart city on the contested land mass of over 273 hectares known as Ogbodogbo along the 2nd Niger Bridge said the project which has been approved by the Nigerian Inland WaterWays Authority and the state government for take off has been stalled following the incessant attack on the owners of the land by thugs allegedly sponsored by the traditional ruler of Obosi
"We are gathered here today because Igwe Chukwudubem Iweka and his allies have been frustrating our efforts to get the Mega smart city project underway"This has been going on here for over three years now.He said he was going to settle boundary dispute between the original owners of the land who are all here with me now,at the end of the day they have not done anything instead they planted hoodlums and militants to scare away the owners of the land," he alleged.
The Igwe has no plot of land here and it's not a communal land yet he went to NIWA to get a right of way but they told him that they had already issued the right of way to Soul City Integrated Limited and out of disappointment he decided to engage thugs to threaten and harm us.So we are calling on Gov Soludo ,Federal government and NIWA to stand firm in this matter and save us from the hands of Igwe and his cohorts"
He also alleged that he was fortunate to have escaped a kidnap attempt led by the one Chinedu Okafor aka Okeife over his resistance and interest in developing the land
Responding to the allegations,Igwe Iweka through the legal counsel to the palace of Obosi Barr. Mega Ikegwuonu described the claims and activities of Mr Nwokoye on the Land in dispute (Ogbodogbo ) as fraudulent noting that he never met with the real land owners of the land but rather connived with some impostors and extended relatives of the family members to stage a kangaroo protest in an attempt to hoodwink members of the public and the press.
He advised that Mr Nwokoye should seize from fomenting trouble and go back to the drawing board to renegotiate with the authorized family heads of the owners of the land rather than b renegades posed as land owners in the name of Soul City Integrated Resources Ltd