The Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa has assured of government’s intervention in the boundary dispute between Okpanam and neighboring communities and towns, News Desk Paper Report.
The state government gave the assurance through the Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Dr Kingsley Emu while responding to the appeal made by the Okpanam youth led by the President-General of Okpanam Youth Organisation, Comrade Lucky Okolo who staged a peaceful protest to Government House, Asaba against forceful encroachment into Okpanam Community land.
Okowa said that the state government was pleased with the manner and way the youth comported themselves, adding that peaceful protest was a welcome idea.
He stated that it was a way of expressing one’s feelings towards issues and events and promised the state government’s intervention by channeling the boundary dispute to its legal team for proper study, investigation and resolution.
Speaking earlier, Comrade Lucky Okolo congratulated Delta State Governor-Elect, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori on his recent electoral victory at the just concluded general elections.
He stated that the main aim of the protest was to draw the attention of the state government towards checkmating the activities of some prominent people from Ibusa.
He specifically accused Chief Fred Ajudua and his sister, Mrs Kate Onianwa, the Delta state Commissioner for Lands and Survey of forceful entry into Okpanam Community lands in both Obodogba and Obodogwugwu Quarters of Okpanam Community within the state capital territory.
The President-General alleged that Ajudua, through his activities and mode of operation had introduced terrorism into Okpanam Community, especially in Obodogba and Obodogwugwu farmlands.
He said that there had been calculated violent attacks on innocent citizens, molestation and intimidation of land owners and property developers in the area within the boundaries of Obodogba and the Umu-Isagba part of Ibusa.
Okolo further alleged that Ajudua, some time ago, boasted that he had forcefully acquired and conquered the people of Ogbeowelle Village of Obodogwugwu Quarters up to Okpanam Post Office area in the heart of Okpanam Community.
He added that the lands commissioner in collaboration with her brother, Ajudua, consistently made it difficult for the representatives of both communities and security agencies interested in amicable resolution of communal conflicts to continue.
Comrade Okolo noted that the commissioner had been using her position unduly to prevent aggrieved communities to achieve peace, stressing that she had always bluffed them whenever they sought her intervention.
Comrade Okolo said both Ajudua and Onianwa, had been parading a judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, accusing them of wrongly interpreted to deceive people, adding that it had been causing seriously problems and provocatively threatening the peace and harmony that once existed between the both communities. He appealed to the authorities to checkmate the activities of the people he tagged ‘land grabbers’ and their cohorts before it would snowball into a serious breakdown of law and order.
