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By Madu Obi
TENSION is mounting in Awka, the Anambra State capital, as the protracted land dispute between Ezinano and Umuzocha communities has resulted in a clash between security operatives and leaders of Ezinano.
Hundreds of community leaders, women and youths of Ezinano had gathered on the land to apparently take possession, when heavily armed operatives from Awkuzu police station stormed the place and ordered them to vacate immediately.
One of the community leaders said that but for the quick intervention of the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Obono Nnaghe Itam who ordered all the parties to leave the scene immediately, there could have been a bloodshed.
Trouble was said to have started when the people of Ezinano Community arrived at the land on hearing that the people of Umuzuocha Community were erecting perimeter fencing, buildings and other structures on the disputed land without recourse to the pending case in court.
An indigene of Ezinano who was seen on the disputed land, wondered why the people of Umuzocha should invite the police to stand by while they were embarking on the construction.
According to him, when Ezinano people arrived on the disputed land, they were ordered by the police operatives present to leave the land or be prepared to bear the consequences, a development that prompted one of them to raise the alarm and urgently called on the Police Commissioner to wade into the matter and rescue them.
Mrs.Gloria Chiama, a farmer, called on the relevant authorities to call the police to order , adding that it was wrong for them to meddle in matters of land dispute between communities and individuals, instead of maintaining law and order.
Reacting on the land dispute, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Tochukwu Ikenga urged the leaders of Ezinano Community to come forward with their complaints to the police in the state.
He said, "You know the truth, you and me have been in this Anambra for many years. This particular group (Ezinano people), if they have any issue, they should come straight to the command.
"f they have any issue, they have the numbers of the Commissioner of Police and they have my own number; if they have any issue they can come to the command and lay their complaints."
Recall that elders and leaders of the Ezinano Community had earlier written a petition dated September 11th 2024 to the chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC) which was copied to the Presidency, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Complaint Response Unit of the Police Force Headquarters, Abuja and Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, alleging police meddling in the land dispute.
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