The people of Owala Uratta in Owerri North Local Government Area Imo State has accused Government of Imo State of forcefully taking over their ancestral farm lands for RUGA settlement in their community.
The people who described the governor action as ‘Heartless Invasion’ could not hold their tears while expressing their displeasure on the recent development in their community.
Speaking during a peaceful protest to register their grievances, an Octogenarian, Elder Vincent Ahuekwe stated ‘This is a heartless Invasion. One I have never seen in my entire life. This has made old people like us totally speechless. How can I explain that my entire Lands and ancestral domains have been taken by force by some gun and trigger crazy criminals right before me and the defenseless people of Owala Uratta community? This is beyond comprehension!’
In his contribution, a youth from the community who does not want his name in print for fear of being harmed by the security men guarding the invaders and parading in their village, had this to say: ‘this is outright RUGA in Imo State. Forceful Invasion Of Igbo Lands Has begun at last, and we are ready to die for our ancestral lands’.
He continued: ‘I am calling on the entire Igbo global community to come to our rescue. This is not Owala Uratta fight alone. The entire Igbo nation must come for the soul of Igbo land. After Owala Uratta, they will certainly go for another community in Igbo land.
Adding her voice, a widow and a community woman leader, Deaconess May Obiyor stated that this is the only remaining farmland where she cultivates to train her children. She reiterated that Imo State Government and her agents sent tractors into their farm where they planted crops this year which they are yet to harvest and crushed everything in the land without allowing them take out anything. She therefore called on Governor Hope Uzodinma to call his men to order and as well return their farmland to them.
The peaceful protest saw men and women of Owala Uratta display placards with different inscriptions to register their complaints to the government of Sen. Hope Uzodinma to reconsider his action concerning their farmlands been taken without any compensation or agreement reached.
