The Mbulu-Owo and Owo autonomous communities, located in the Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State, have requested that the Nigerian Army comply with a court order mandating the removal of soldiers from the disputed land in their region.
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This contested land shares boundaries with Akpoga-Nike, Nkwubor Nike, and Onuogba Nike in the Enugu East local government area on one side, and Amechi Idodo, Oruku, Ubahu (all in Nkanu East), as well as Umuhuaji, Nkalagu, and Ama-Azu communities in Ishielu, Ebonyi State on the other.
On May 20 of this year, Justice C.O. Ajah of the Enugu State High Court issued a restraining order against the Nigerian Army, the Defence, and the Enugu State government, preventing them from entering the land until the ongoing legal case is resolved. The substantive suit has been adjourned for a pretrial conference scheduled for September 29 of this year.
Despite this ruling, Governor Peter Mbah’s kinsmen reported over the weekend that Nigerian Army officials have begun “patrolling and surveying the disputed area. A video circulating on social media shows armed soldiers patrolling the region.
In a statement from their Secretary, Ability Chukwuemeka Mbah, the communities urged the Military to adhere to the court order for the sake of peace.
He expressed that the army’s presence in the disputed area is instilling fear and anxiety among the local residents.
Reports indicate that the land has been a point of contention between the Nigerian Army and the communities since 2016.
The state government, which intervened at one point with a joint inspection, found that “no beacons corresponding with those in the survey plans submitted by the Nigerian Army were located,” emphasizing the difficulty in proving the army’s ownership of the land.
In response to the investigative committee, the Nigerian Army claimed that the land was acquired in the 1970s and asserted that it has been encroached upon by unidentified individuals who have been placing beacons on it.