Demolition: Rights group vows to get justice for peasant farmers in Ebonyi
The Human Rights Defenders of Nigeria (HURIDE), Ebonyi state chapter has condemned the governor David Umahi administration in Ebonyi over the forceful and unlawful demolition of people’s ancestral homes in Ezza North LGA of Ebonyi state for the state airport project without exhausting all due processes.
It alleged that some security personnel on Thursday led bulldozers to demolish some houses in Ezza North local government area of the state, on the instruction of the state government for the purpose of building an airport.
The state chairman of HURIDE, Comrade Sampson Oko Nweke, assured the victims that they will get justice through the court of law.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja , Comrade Oko Nweke recalled that the state government had recently mapped for demolition , some communities in Ezza North LGA as preferred site for the airport construction without due consultation and compensation.
The rights activist said his group is not against the airport project by the state government or the location of the project, “but the unlawful, inconsiderate and delinquent processes of acquiring the lands (people’s villages) for that purpose.
Nweke regretted the hurriedness of the government to dislodge the poor Ezza people and renders them homeless; querying why the governor tends to be disregarding and ignoring the court of law before which a the matter between the embattled people and the state government is pending.
“How can the government just rise in utter disrespect to court proceedings, invade people’s ancestral homes with heavily armed security men and start destroying and demolishing their houses, farmlands, economic trees, churches, and shrines without due consolations, fair compensations or alternative settlements.
“For crying out loud, this is a ruthless strategy, an inhumane treatment, a vindictive approach and a total show of disrespect for the rights of the common people. A development stride should be a source of succor and comfort and shouldn’t mean to inflict pains, agony and sorrow.
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“This recent action of the state government is totally condemnable, utterly reprehensible and worrisomely shameful and must be seen and regarde as such,” Oko Nweke lamented.
He vowed that “the group is ready to explore all available avenues within the known boundaries of the law, to ensure the situation are timely remedied and damages adequately recompensed.”
