Group condemns forceful takeover of lands for Ebonyi Airport
A group of Ebonyi State indigenes, Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID) has condemned in strong terms the forceful takeover of portions of land from farmers for purpose of building an airport.
The Association said every indigene of Ebonyi State should be concerned about the plight of farmers whose lands were acquired by the state government without adequate compensation.
The AESID consequently lamphooned the Ezza – Ezekuna Stakeholders for threatening the peasant farmers whose ancestral lands had been forcefully acquired by the state government for an airport project without compensating and resettling them.
The Ezza-Ezekuna Stakeholders was said to have passed a vote of confidence on the state government for forcefully taken over the ancestral land of the peasant famers for the controversial Airport project.
In a statement signed Thursday in Abuja by its spokesman, Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu, the AESID described the intervention by the Ezza-Ezekuna Stakeholders as ‘sycophancy’.
Expressing dismay, the AESID said it is unfortunate “that some people could join the Ebonyi state governmen to intimidate the peasant farmers whose ancestral lands were forcefully acquireacquired instead of following the due process of acquiring individual lands for public use.
“It is trite law that while the Land Use Act gives the governor powers to acquire any land for overiding public interest, same law provides for adequate compensation for the farmers whose farmlands and ancestral homes have been forcefully taken.
“While we do not desire to go into the desirability or otherwise of an airport now in the state because we know that this government in the state hardly does anything that benefits the people but themselves. We believe that this project is about the supply of cement and other materials by a particular family in the state.”
While expressing its unflinching support towards the displaced farmers in their trying moments, the group also commended the land owners for choosing the path of constitutionalism in seeking justice instead of resorting to self-help despite lots of intimidations and “by the government apologists to frustrate them.”
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The Association further admonished the state government to note that the welfare of the people is central to the mantra of governance.
The AESID said “the Ebonyi state government should refrain from its acts of intimidations through their proxies, apologists and agents and rather be grateful to the displaced farmers who are enriching our legal jurisprudence by being civil. In the end, governments come and go and life continues”.
