Crisis is brewing in Ogidi, home town of the late literary icon, Chinua Achebe, in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State over alleged invasion of a sacred forest, Ofiammuo Eze-Isi Ogwugwu, by Uruoji villagers claiming ownership of the land allegedly owned by Umueze-Isiogwugwu kindred.
Youths from the kindred are already spoiling for a showdown over planned confiscation of the ancestral land by people from Uruoji village.
Chairman of Umueze-Isiogwugwu kindred, Adazi-Uru village of Ogidi, Mr. Vincent Obi, disclosed that trouble started in 2018 when youths from Uruoji village, led by Ugochukwu Okwuosa, began to claim ownership of the vast forest land without recourse to historical or documentary evidence.
Obi described the claims as strange, because according to him, Uruoji village did not have common boundary with Umueze-Isiogwugwu in the first place to be able to co-own the said land.
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According to him, while leaders of the kindred dismissed the earlier claim as wishful thinking, the matter, however, took a dramatic twist recently when youths from Uruoji village invaded Umueze-Isiogwugwu sacred forest with a bulldozer and pulled down all economic trees in the sacred forest, including spiritual trees, thereby desecrating the forest.
“In the process of doing this, the youths also abducted the chief priest of Ofiammuo Eze-Isiowulu, Mr. Clement Okechukwu, but later released him. Since then, the chief priest has not been mentally stable,”s he disclosed.
Obi added that the matter did not there as the invading village had started erecting structures on the said land, even after the traditional ruler of the town, Igwe Alex Onyido, had sued for peace and promised to look into the matter.
“Since after the invasion of our sacred forest, we’ve been living in fear. We call on relevant authorities to wade into the matter and restore normalcy to our community,” he added.
When our correspondent contacted Ugochukwu Okwuosa, who was accused of sponsoring youths to cause problems in the community, he claimed that the said land belonged to Uruoji village, insisting that youths of Uruoji village had maintained peace after the intervention of the traditional ruler of the town.
“It is also important to inform the world that our youths did not abduct Mr. Clement Okechukwu as claimed by our opponents. We are law-abiding individuals, who will do everything to protect our community from crisis,” he added.
As at the time of filing these report could not get the reaction of Mr. Clement Okechukwu, who was said to have been abducted, as all efforts made to get across to him proved abortive.
Contacted on the development, the in Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammed Haruna, said the command was yet to get official report on the said land dispute.
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