Delta Court orders Nigerian Army to pay ₦1m fine for invading, taking over community land

A Delta State High Court sitting in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area, fined the Nigerian Army one million naira and declared the Army’s acquisition of parts of Ohore 1 land null and unlawful.

Justice Roli-Daibo Harriman presided over the court, which also declared the Nigerian Army’s assault of Ohore 1 land as trespass.

On Monday, Justice Harriman ruled in the community’s lawsuit that Ohore residents had a statutory right of occupation over the entire area in exhibit CL3.

The court’s declaration followed suit No. EHC/41/2014 by Mr Godwin Imiruaye, Mr Lucky Utebu and Chief Julius Oghojamuni on behalf of themselves and the Ohore 1 community against the Nigeria Army, the Minister of Justice, and six others.

Lawyers for the Claimants, led by activist, Chief Victor Otomiewo, had approached the court to declare that prior to the promulgation of the Land Use Act, the claimants, as the persons in occupation and possession of all parcels of land at Ohore, did not fall within any area of land acquired by the Army at the time for the use by the defendants.

Chief Otomiewo, among others, urged the High Court to declare that any acquisition of Ohore 1 land without due process and evidence of conformity with all applicable laws and the constitution is null and invalid.

The court sided with Chief Otomiewo and prohibited the Army from further incursions on Ohore property.

The Nigerian Army seized the area in question from the then-Midwestern State administration in 1975.

According to a letter with the reference number NAE/2801/26/1/G, the Army bought the land for the current Effurun Barracks construction project.

Although the Land Use Act, which vests all land in the government and holds it in trust for the people, had not yet been promulgated at the time of purchase, no compensation was provided to the families who owned the land as required by law.

When the barracks were built in 1979, a major amount of the property was left unused and unproductive for years.

Rather than returning the balance to the owners who rely on the property for livelihood, some serving and former army generals grew astute and began selling the land to investors and speculators while renting out the rest to small-time traders who could afford to own a shop in Mammy Market.

The Ovie of Uvwie Kingdom, HRM Emmanuel Ekemejewa Sideso, Abe 1, stated that his people gave the Army that much land because the federal government convinced them that it planned to create the main campus of the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, which was established in 1964 in Effurun.

“We believed that army education would bring growth to the neighborhood, but because the military institution was eventually built in Kaduna, the government opted to use the purchased land to build army barracks, today known as 3 Battalion Barracks, Effurun. The total amount of land bought in 1975 was 4,640 acres.

The Army secured a certificate of occupancy in February 1994, which shows that it later appropriated an additional 436 acres.

The additional land, which brings the total acquired area to 5,076 acres, was taken without the agreement of the Uvwie people, according to the king.

The land is now being sold for a price that the original owners, the people of the Uvwie kingdom, cannot afford. And this is the beginning of the land dispute conflict.

According to our correspondent, there is great excitement in Uvwie Kingdom following the judgment.