Ogwashi Uku Kingdom in Delta State will continue to recover its land, which has been mortgaged to estate developers by some unscrupulous individuals who delight in the sale of community land.
The acting Omu of the kingdom, Her Royal Majesty, Chief Edith Rafua, stated this in a reaction to a video of a faceless woman accusing the monarch, Obi Ifechukwude Anishi Okonjo 11, of masterminding the bulldozing of crops in her farm and others in the community.
The Omu who is traditionally in charge of womenfolk and market affairs in the community, said contrary to the campaign of calumny in the video, after the inspection of the farmland, the woman referred to said His Royal Majesty who is the custodian of the community land went to court in 2021 to reclaim what was illegally acquired by the developers.
According to her, no crop was destroyed, as attested to by several farmers in the area. She added that the woman’s allegation was not only false but a calculated attempt to smear the reputation of a monarch who wants to take the community to a greater height.
“The traditional ruler was just recovering the Ogwashi Uku land mortgaged to estate developers by some unscrupulous individuals who delight in the sale of the community land. When it was found out that the said land at the back of Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi Uku, was being claimed by some estate developers. After a serious court battle, the Obi won the case with the Certificate of Warrant of Possession given to him by the court.
“He then set out to recover the land illegally acquired by the land grabbers hence the clearing of the pathways after due diligence.
“The video is faceless because if you are accusing somebody of destroying your property, you don’t need to hide your face, you have to come out so that people will know who you are.
If anything like that happened, the woman should have come to me as Omu of the kingdom or gone to the palace and reported.”
The Omu commended the Obi for his developmental efforts including the construction of mother and child clinic at the general hospital, provision of over seven transformers to Ogwashi Uku and its satellite communities, boreholes and award of scholarship to students amongst others.
Meanwhile, the palace secretary, Prince Ifeakanachukwu Emordi, has appealed for the cooperation of all with the monarch in his efforts to recover all the illegally sold lands in Ogwashi Uku.
“If not for his efforts, I don’t think our children will have any future because by the time all these perpetrators must have finished their evil crime of mortgaging our land, we will have no place for our children even to call their own land anymore,” he said.
Before taking possession of the land in question, Obi Okonjo, younger brother to the director general of the World Trade Organisation, Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, had exhausted all avenues by writing to the relevant authorities, adding that all of them are aware of what is going on there.
“Therefore, with the proactive steps of the King in recovering the Ogwashi uku lands from land grabbers, encomium should be poured on him, not casting aspersions as being portrayed in the video meant to smear the integrity of the king,” he add.
