A Community Leader in Delta State, Hon Eugene Chiedu Modebe has added his voice to the concerns of citizens that the Boundary Adjustment Committees set up by Govt have taken advantage of their appointments and assigned responsibilities of delineating boundaries as a way of checkmating communal crisis and resorting to Land Grabbing, abuse of office and intimidation.
Hon Eugene Chiedu Modebe alluded to the rumours making the rounds in different quarters that the newly constituted Delta State Boundary Adjustment Committee is involved in allocating lands to themselves in places where there are unresolved land disputes, thereby taking advantage of their offices to usurp and avert justice.
The Delta State Boundary Adjustment Committee is headed by the Deputy Governor of the State, Mr. Monday Onyeme, and has the State Surveyor-General, among others as members.
Reacting to the spate of trespass on Isheagu Land by neighbouring Ukwu Oba and Umute communities, the use of the Nigeria police to harrass and intimidate his people and the recent invitation to the office of the Surveyor General of Delta State upon a purpoted petition by Ukwu Oba people, Modebe called on members of the Boundary committee to use their positions to engage in aggressive sensitization of the communities in dispute on the need for peace, respect for their historical and natural land boundaries with a view to mapping out the entire land area, surveying and registering same for permanent peace.
He stated that if this is done in a very fair, unabigous and unbiased manner, the present talks in the public space of clandestine moves by the leadership of the committee to create buffers and buy off lands in some of the villages that are having land disputes will not exist.
According to him, allegations are rife that the leadership of the committee is playing double standards by instigating crisis in the communities in order to buy off the disputed lands while claiming to be working towards mitigating tension in the communities.
This according to him is in addition to using agents to influence the communities to sell off their disputed lands as a way to ensuring a lasting peace in the communities, following the rapid expansion from Asaba to other communities in Aniocha/Oshimili axis.
In his words, “nobody should force Isheagu community or any other community to sell their land against their wish or force communities by some fiat to delineate their boundaries.”
He, therefore, urged all relevant authorities to call the land committee to order in order to douse the rising tension among communities over land disputes.
Modebe noted that there has been palpable tension among communities in Delta State over land disputes in recent times for obvious reasons and should be controlled to avert looming crisis.
