….Directs Parties on Revalidation of Land
By Ijeoma Umeh
Benin City – Mr Uyi Ogbebor, a farmer whose farmland has been caught in the middle of land disputation between two communities in Uhunmwode Local Government Area of Edo state has appealed to the Edo State Private Properties Protection Committee to help him recover his farmland.
The Petitioner stated that he bought the land measuring 1,200ft by 1,350ft situate at Okunmagiegiemwen Community in 2019 and he farmed food crops until the Ekumagiegiemwen community entered to lay claim over the land.
However, Mr Robinson Izevbigie, Respondent and representative of the Okumagiegiemwen Community informed the Committee at its sitting yesterday in Government House Benin City that the Community owns the entire area and currently battles more contentions than the issue brought before the Committee by the Petitioner and gave reasons for his assertions.
Mr Izevbigie stated that a boundary dispute arose between the Ekumagiegiemwen community and Ekoken Community whereby the Ekoken Community was claiming the entire land area.
While the contentions raged, the Respondent stated, the Ekoken community had gone ahead to gift 2 Miles Square out of the land area to HRM Oba Ewuare, the Oba of Benin.
He noted that the Okumagiegiemwen Community is contesting a consent judgment to claim that the two miles square gifted to the Benin Monarch is part of the community land and that while not contesting the gift, the community is insisting it should be the one to gift it to the Oba and not Ekokan community.
On his part, the Petitioner told the Committee that he is not aware of the involvement of the Benin Monarch in the issues, nor aware of a litigation concerning the land. He described it as “gas lighting” and a ploy by the Okumagiegiemwen Community to seize his farmland.
He further stated that he has been denied access to tend to and harvest his crops.
Addressing the matter, the Hon Justice Alero Edodo-Eruaga headed Committee directed the parties to follow due process in determining ownership of the land in question, especially with a consent judgment on the portion in dispute.
While the Committee noted that revalidation of the land will guide both parties in knowing who owns what area, it advised the Petitioner to get a registered surveyor to survey his claimed portion of the land and proceed to Edo-GIS to take the bearing of the land with a view to determining if his land fell into the disputed portion being claimed by both communities or the 2 Square Miles purported to have been gifted the Oba of Benin.
The Committee also directed the Petitioner to bring his vendor by the next hearing on the matter and advised the people of Okumagiegiemwen Community to allow him unhindered access to his crops.
The case was adjourned till November 30.
The Committee heard 29 cases during the sitting yesterday.
Sitting continues in Benin City.
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