Rivers community, monarch bicker over land ownership

Rivers community, monarch bicker over land ownership

Some members of Ogbogoro, Ehios, Rumumayanda and Anaka villages, in Akpor kingdom, Obio/Akpor Local Council of Rivers State, have locked horns with their paramount ruler, Eze Felix Amadi-Nna, over the ownership of a landed property in their community.
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The aggrieved villagers, mainly youths and women, claimed ownership of the property, while the monarch said the area in dispute was near a community river and therefore owned by all.

The protesters stormed the Akpor Council meeting at Akpor Ancestral Hall in Ozuoba Community, alleging that Amadi-Nna was using his position to unduly take over the community’s landed properties for personal gains.

One of them, Amadi Stanley, said they wanted to register their displeasure regarding the way the ruler was handling affairs of the community.

He claimed that the monarch had put up such a disposition sometime in 1998, which resulted in the death of many chiefs. He said they would not allow a repeat of the incident.

Addressing the protesters, Nyenwe-Ali Choba, His Royal Highness, Raymond Okocha, said the Akpor kingdom would address all the issues raised.
Responding, the paramount ruler described the protest as shocking and the handiwork of enemies.

He identified three categories of people involved in the protest as the Ehios, Rumumayanda and Anaka families. According to him, he had a court case with the Ehios people and returned victorious.

He said: “They took a landed property from us that would have led to a serious showdown, but we went to court for over 14 years and my family won. I also won the chieftaincy matter which was in court for about 27 years.
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“They felt aggrieved over the judgment of the court. Their only option is to go to Appeal and not to stage a protest.
“The second people are from Rumumayanda. They share boundaries with me. They also took me to court over the chieftaincy matter. The matter has been there since 1995. After the overwhelming evidence against them, they wrote to the court and withdrew the matter.
“But because I had a counterclaim, which is declarative in nature, the matter continued till it got to a state where the court, presided by Justice Enebeli (rtd), delivered the judgement in my favour.

“The third category are from Anaka. They said the river belongs to them. They got a contract that they wanted to build a tank farm in the community. They saw the community waterside and said it was good for the tank farm.
“Instead of bringing it to the community, they took it to the Anaka family, a subject before the Ogbogoro council of chiefs, of which I am the leader. They paid them N45 million and they took the money without reference to the council.
“When the council of chiefs called them, they said the river is their own. We were shocked because it sounded funny. We are living together and development has come. It has to do with the river where we fish, we pick periwinkles, crabs… a mangrove swamp, and you claim it is your own.

“The elders in the council asked what we could do because the children had taken over. So when the council of chiefs met, we agreed that they should share the N45 million on the grounds that the company should enter an agreement with everyone in the community. Everybody has access to that river. It does not belong to one person.
“The boys came here to the hall, took their elders out, took a motorcycle I parked in my compound and set it ablaze. I reported the matter to the police. When they refused, the community went to court to have them explain how our collective property is now their individual property.”
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