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By Madu Obi
Policemen posted to guard the disputed Agu Nawgu land in Awka, the Anambra State capital, weekend clashed with indigenes of the 20 villages in Ezinano, Awka that went to take possession of the large expanse of land on the outskirts of the city.
As the villagers, consisting of men, women and youths, moved into the area, the policemen fired teargas cannisters on them and shot severally into the air.
Some cars parked in front of one of the estates were destroyed, although there were no human casualties.
The policemen, who were heavily armed, said they were officially posted to the area.
The Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye, however, denied sending police operatives to the disputed land.
Spokesman of the villagers, Chief Richard Onuorah accused the police of taking sides with their Enugwu Agidi neighbours who are laying claim to the land, even after various courts had ruled in favour of Awka people.
Onuorah said his people have already filed another suit against the police for infringing on their fundamental human rights, adding that there was no reason for the police to fire at them when the people were not armed.
He said: "We have been farming and building houses on this land for ages and parts of it have been developed into sprawling estates. We were surprised when we came here sometime ago to find policemen, who chased us out for reasons we do not know.
"Our materials are still at the sites and we came with our women to inspect our property, only for the police to use teargas on us and said we should not enter the estate gate. All the women with us own farms on the land and the police is not allowing them to harvest their crops."
"If the presence of the police was to secure the area, why did they start shooting and firing teargas when they saw us?"
Another community leader from Umuokpu, one of the villages that own the land, Chief Arinze Ekelem said the people of Enugwu Agidi we're paying them alimony on the land when they were farming, only to stop and start laying claim as the rightful owners.
"We are not prepared to fight anybody, but we want to know why the fully armed policemen are on our land and would not allow us have access into it," he said.
He urged the people of Enugwu Agidi to embrace peace, reminding them that they won't gain anything by fighting to claim what does not belong to them.
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