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The people of Owo, the hometown of Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, on Monday, staged a peaceful protest over the alleged invasion of their community and destruction of property by the Nigerian Army.
They claimed the Army were hell-bent on a forceful take-over of their entire ancestral lands.
They lamented that the alleged acts of intimidation and misuse of security assets entrusted to them by the constitution were carried out despite a court injunction restraining the Army from entering into the large expanse of community land and called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come to their rescue.
The protest, which has heightened tension in the area, saw the natives, many of them women and the aged, carrying placards with different inscriptions such as “Remove soldiers, restore peace,” “Owo land is not barracks,” “Stop the invasion,” “Respect the constitution,” “Say No to Military Land Grabbing,” “President Tinubu, save us from military intimidation,” “Army, leave our land alone.”
Addressing journalists during the protest, counsel to Owo Community, Barr. Igwenagu Ngene, said the invasion of the locality took place for the first time in November 2015, when the community woke up to a rude shock of military occupation, with their buildings marked, “Remove, Army land, keep off.”
He disclosed that the soldiers also mounted billboards and beacons in every nook and cranny of the community, claiming that the entire community belonged to the Nigerian Army.
Barr. Ngene said they immediately wrote on behalf of the community to the General Officer Commanding (GOC), the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, in the same November 2015, requesting him to withdraw the soldiers he stationed in the area.
Continuing, Ngene stated that when they could not get any positive response from the 82 Division authorities, they wrote to the Enugu State Government and the Enugu State House of Assembly, calling for their intervention in the situation, which the people of Owo described as a case of annihilation, land grab, and an invasion of a whole community that is unknown to law and unheard of.
“Except in a case of military conquest, where after conquering, you possibly annex it and make it part of your own, but this is not the case here,” he declared.
Ngene further hinted that they also petitioned the Ministry of Lands, Enugu, which invited the Nigerian Army and Owo community, but expressed dismay that during the deliberation at the time, the Army declined to make any comment.
He claimed that instead, the Army kept on insisting that the entire community land belongs to them.
Ngene averred that when all entreaties failed, they took the case to the National Assembly, NASS, where, after a fact-finding visit and various hearings conducted by the legislators, the Army was asked to stay away from the land, as the security agency could not provide any document to back their claim of land ownership.
He further told journalists that the Army stayed off after the intervention until April 2025 when they returned, prompting the community to approach the court where they got an injunction in suit number 375/2025 against the Nigerian Army.
He disclosed that the Enugu State High Court, presided over by Justice C. O. Ajah, issued a restraining order against the Nigerian Army, ordering them to stay off the land pending the final determination of the suit.
Corroborating the lawyer at his palace, the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Godwin Okeke Arum, who almost broke down in tears, said, “It is disheartening that a whole community will be asked to quit to nowhere for no reason other than the fact that some people are wielding guns and jackboots bought with taxpayers’ money.”
“Sometime in 2015, a team of the Nigerian Army came to the community and started mounting billboards around the entire community, asking us to quit, that this is Army land. We became astonished and we engaged our legal advisor. But they are not heeding the courts or rule of law.
“The Army has even threatened to take over my palace, locations of our community shrines, and ancestral home of the governor, who is father of the state. Can you imagine that?”
Igwe Arum alleged that the Army operatives have been molesting his subjects, and also demolishing ongoing projects as well as chasing investors away from the community.
The President-General of Owo community, Chief John Ogbu, who also spoke with journalists, called on the state and Federal Government to come to their rescue.
“This is a direct plea to President Bola Tinubu as the father of the nation to come to our aid. He should halt this attempt to snatch our lands at gunpoint. The Army has continued to make life unbearable for our people through their acts of intimidation and abuse of power and their guns.
“As I speak, our people can no longer go to their farms freely for fear of heavily armed soldiers that have taken over the entire community. Investors who are flocking into Owo are being turned back by military fiat.
“This is a democracy, not a military rule; hence we seek the president’s protection. The Army is not above the courts or laws of Enugu State and Nigeria,” he concluded.
When contacted, the Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Ayeni said he would investigate the issue, adding that he should be shown evidence of the Army rough handling the community people.
