Delta Govt battles land poachers at Asaba Airport, Okpanam, others
Nosa Akenzua, Asaba
Delta State government has taken steps to curb the increasing land poaching at Asaba Airport, Okpanam and others in the state.
Investigation revealed that land poachers operating in Asaba Airport, Okpanam community, Asaba and others have in the last few months allegedly ripped off unsuspecting persons under the cover of fake approval for land sale purportedly issued by the state government.
Sources said unsuspecting land buyers interested in Asaba Airport within, Okpanam community among others, have been swindled in millions of naira by these ubiquitous land poachers who are armed with misleading documents.
Their modus operandi is to woo unsuspecting land buyers to Asaba Airport within and Okpanam community where they allegedly hoodwink them that the Airport extension lands were approved for sale by the state government.
“We bought over eight plots of lands from one Ikechukwu Nwanbuze who showed us some documents that were purportedly approved by the state government within Asaba Airport and we paid N46 million only for us to be told that it was for the state government”, Chief Onwodi Joseph, one of the victims who told journalists in Asaba on Friday.
Sources further said Okpanam community had been worse hit by the fraudulent activities of the poachers who drive in expensive cars and live in mansions.
There, plots of lands are allegedly sold to several persons and fake documents given to them, especially unsuspecting land buyers who are non Indigenes.
But Police Commissioner in the state, Adeleke Adeyinka, who confirmed that he had received over two hundred petitions which bother on land disputes and others, disclosed that several arrest were in the last few weeks made following the petitions.
“We have in our possession over two hundred petitions that are being attended to on land disputes relating to poachers and we have also made several arrests and investigation ongoing”, Adeyinka said.
The state government through its Secretary (SSG), Barr Chiedu Ebie, in a statement issued and signed, a copy made available to journalists in Asaba on Friday, stated that the land earmarked for the Asaba Airport extend beyond where the perimeter fence end.
Part of the statement reads:” It has become expedient to clarify for the information and guidiance of the general public, particularly land developers around the Asaba Airport that the Airport land extends beyond the perimeter fence which has been erected primarily to safeguard aircraft and prevent any form of encroachment on the airport runway”, the statement averred.
The statement therefore warned property developers who had wrongfully built and were still developing structures on the land earmarked for the airport to desist from such and attributed their action to the erroneous assumption that the boundary of the Airport land ended where the perimeter fence had been erected.
