A 71-year-old man, Mr. Sunday Itu of Ojali Village in Oglewu community, Ohimini Local Government Area of Anambra State has petitioned the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, over land grabbing and harassment of the people of the area by one ex-police officer, Adamina Ejemi.
Itu said the activities of the retired officer and his group were capable of causing breach of peace in the community.
He said but for restrictions by certain elders of the community, the youths in the area would have since caused the untoward in the area over the issue.
He said, “One ex-police officer, who is expected to be a custodian of law, even after his retirement, ASP Adamina Ejemi, along his cohorts, are harassing the community and selling people’s land with impunity.”
The family alleged that some prominent indigenes of the community were behind the land grabbers.
In a letter by the family lawyers, Onche Adakole & Associates, made available to newsmen in Awka on Thursday, the Itu family said the speculators illegally sold their property.
They said the parcel of land with economic trees which was fraudulently balkanised and sold had been legally occupied by the Itu family for a long time.
They added that the practice in Ojali was that individuals and families owned the land and not the community under which guise the land were being sold by their oppressors.
Their lawyer’s petition read, “You acted against the will of our client and upon an illegal and baseless claim that it is the community that owns the land.
“You are aware that it is the individual and families that own land and not community. So, you have no right to sell any part of our client’s land under the guise of exercising authority as community leaders.
“We demand your immediate withdrawal from this land and advise that you return money to whosoever you may have collected it from.”
The family assured that it would remain law abiding, but would resist any attempt by strangers to encroach into their land.
We will not want to take the laws into our hands; we thereby call on the Inspector General of Police to urgently look into this case and cause it to be investigated to avoid breakdown of law and order in the community,” the petition read.
Source: Punch
