UHUNMWODE – Uneasy calm is trailing Iguomon community and their Ikhuonbo neighbour both in Uhunmwode local government area of Edo state over the ownership of a parcel of land.
To avert a communal clash between both communities, the Iguomon community has appealed to Governor Adams Oshiomhole and security agents to wade into the issue before it was too late.
The community however expressed gratitude to the governor and the State Commissioner of Police for taking prompt action to forestall peace and orderliness in the area and reinstated its commitment to continue to operate within the ambient of the law.
Addressing journalists in Benin yesterday, Vice-Chairman of Iguomon Youth Association, Mr. Stanley Osazee who gave the genesis of the crisis, said that the Ikhuonbo community have been crying wolf where non –exists, insisting that the land in question which he described as their ancestral land belongs to them.
He said, “We the people of Iguomon Community has deemed it fit to inform the general public via the media about the lingering crises and the deliberate occupation of our ancestral land by some group of people who calls themselves Ikhuonbo community in Edo State.
“Early this month, the people of Ikhuobo came to the media to mislead the general public, claiming that the good people of Iguomon community are trying to chase them away from their land and they refuse to inform the general public with the true situation on ground.
“The land in dispute is actually owned by Iguomon community, and the Benin palace validated Iguomon’s right to own the land in the past and the palace recommended that Iguomon community should give Ikhuonbo 150ft from the land.
“The people of Iguomon community went to court to seek legal interpretation, backing and the right to own the land by dragging the people Ikhuonbo community to the Edo State High Court in Benin which ruled that Iguomon community owns the land.
“Ikhuonbo appealed to the Appeal Court in Benin, which also validated the judgment of the lower court that Iguomon community owned the land. Ikhuonbo again went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruled in the year 2006 that IGUOMON community owned the land”.
The community said that as law abiding citizens, they applied for a warrant of possession after the Supreme Court judgment which was granted in the year 2013 and the warrant directed the bailiff to bring down every structure within the territory to which belongs to Iguomon as validated by the supreme court judgement.
It added that when the court went to the disputed land to enforce the court’s order, the people of IKHUONBO resisted the court’s order and shot sporadically against the security agency who accompanies the court bailiff to enforce the court order in line with the Supreme Court judgement.
The community disclosed that after the incident, Ikhuonbo community sued Iguomon community for N20million, claiming that Iguomon community has damaged their property.
They claimed that following a directive from the court that the both parties in conflict should meet with the State Surveyor General to delineate the land in accordance with the Supreme Court judgement to see if Iguomon community actually went beyond bound to enforce the court judgement, Ikhuonbo withdrew from the suit and ran to the State House of Assembly who has no jurisdiction to address matters already decided by the Supreme Court.
The Iguomon community claimed that in the month of May 2016, they again applied for a warrant of possession and the Edo state Chief Judge granted the community a warrant of possession to take charge of the land.
They stated that while officials from the State Ministry of Land and Survey were on ground in the site and under watchful eyes of the security agents, Ikhuonbo people short sporadically on Iguomon people and injured eight unarmed Iguomon youths who sustained bullet wounds.
The community added that the State Commissioner of Police acted promptly by inviting the parties in conflict and demanded an instant investigation into the shootings just as he directed the state CID to ensure that perpetrators of the crime are prosecuted.
They said investigations by the Police led to the arrest of some people from Ikhuonbo community who were charged to the Magistrates court in Ehor.

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