‘We are ready to die in our home’ – Imo family vows as govt invades ancestral land

The Nkwazema family of Nekede, Owerri West LGA of Imo State, has vowed to stake their lives to protect their ancestral land from allegedly being taken away from them by officials of the state government.

The indigenes lamented that some government officials led by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Monitoring and Compliance, Nze Chinasa Nwaneri, allegedly invaded their land with armed security men and forcefully evicted occupants.

Speaking on behalf of the affected family, Felix Uchenna Ihemeze Nkwazema alleged that Nwaneri ordered a group of boys, said to be thugs, to invade and destroy houses and other properties in the land, which they claimed originally belonged to them.

Nkwazema said that they were surprised at how Nwaneri and his alleged thugs started erecting fences immediately after destroying their property.

He hinted that Nwaneri only mapped out the graves of their parents and started fencing the land, which he claimed was over 10 plots with residential houses.

Nkwazema noted that no government official, including Nwaneri, approached the family about taking their land, nor was any kind of monetary compensation made.

He added that the family has owned the land from time immemorial and there was no time the government indicated interest in acquiring it.

“Even if the government indicated interest in the land, there is a procedure for that which was not followed.

“The government should also make its purpose of acquiring the land known to us. But surprisingly, none of these steps was applied before the invasion,” he said.

Nkwazema further hinted that the Owerri City survey-plan documents of the land revealed that the family has been in possession of the property since 1943 and wondered why a sane government could wake up and decide to displace citizens and grab an ancestral home whose occupants are still alive.

He said that the family has vowed to use every legal means to ensure their rights are not trampled upon.

He condemned the manner in which one of their brothers was allegedly arrested and the sporadic shootings that forced residents to scamper for safety.

Nkwazema, on behalf of the family, called on the Governor of the State, Hope Uzodinma, the Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police and other relevant bodies to compel Nwaneri to leave their ancestral land alone.

“Our ancestral land has never been in dispute. We were never approached nor notified that the Imo State Government wants to take our land. We were not compensated and are now street urchins as Nwaneri and his thugs had rendered us homeless and restless,” Nkwazema lamented.

Efforts made to reach out to Nwaneri and other relevant government official proved abortive as calls and text messages sent were not acknowledged at the time of filing this report.