Illegal mining company invades Ebonyi community, destroys ancestral farm lands, cash crops
From Omaka OKOH, ABAKALIKI
An illegal mining firm, Chukky Naddy Company Nigeria Limited, has invaded Ezeke community and destroyed ancestral farm land with bulldozer, destroyed cassava and other cash crops as well as rice farm
when we demanded from the company to pay for damages the told us they got an authority letter from the palace of of eze ogo to clear the land.theb question is is eze ogo the owner of the land or the company that he should give such an order, the most annoying is that they
THE BEAGLE NEWS investigations revealed that the company invaded that community with a crack team of security personnel made up of police and the army, who are said to have orders to shoot at anybody or group of people who dared questions their operations.
It was learnt that the company even harvested the large acres of cassava and carted them away with other farm produce without the knowledge of the land owners.
The farms were cultivated by mostly women, especially the widows and aged fathers who depend on this land for livelihood.
Checks further revealed that the landlords have no agreement with the the company or their agent, but they allegedly had a tacit agreement with the Eze Ogo traditional council and a few cabals in the cabinet who signed away the land in question.
All efforts and calls out across to Afikpo local government chairman and some persons at the Eze Ogo traditional palace were not returned even as the youths are threatening fire and brimstone.
One of the youth leaders, who simply gave his name as Egwu Okoh, lamented the sorry they have found themselves, calling on both the government and human rights organisations to come to our aid.
Okoh said: " What is happening in Ezeke is a crime against humanity. We are not going to forfeit the land to anyone as we have resolved to fight for our rights.
"We are demanding payment of one hundred and fifty million naira (N150m) as specific and general damages. We are also asking the company to vacate our land including the one they have fenced which is also our land,
"We have given the company two weeks notice to vacate our land and failure of which, we the land owners will match to the company and shut down its operations.
"Information reaching us has it that they have the police and the army to shoot at anybody that comes close to the company. We are determined to get what rightly belongs to us. And because with the rising cost of foods in the country, we are seriously suffering untold hardship as a result of this actions the company.
"Once again, we call on the ministry of agriculture and mines to intervene in this case as we are not going to back out from our inheritance from our forefathers."
