By Leonard Okachie
Umuezeukwu community in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government of Abia has renewed its appeal to the state government to further reduce its land earmarked for the proposed Abia Airport project.
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The community leaders told journalists on Monday in Umuezeukwu that their plea for 500-meter buffer zone from their homes had been consistently ignored by the state government.
The community accused the state government of using security operatives to intimidate them and ignore their pleas despite sending several letters.
They appealed to Gov. Alex Otti to personally visit and assess the situation, warning that his aides might be misinforming him about the project’s impact.
They said that their plea was to ensure the community’s future and survival.
A community leader, Chief Uche Ubani, lamented that the community was facing significant challenges, including the loss of ancestral homes and farmlands.
He said that the situation would leave them and their children without a place to build or bury their dead.
Ubani said: “When the area for the project was 1,850 hectares, it was first reduced to 1,550 hectares, which saw the removal of Agburuike anɗ Umuogu communities from the airport project.
“The second reduction saw the removal of Ikputu completely, Umule in Umuosu and Umuode also recorded 60 per cent reduction.
“Ubaha recorded 30 per cent but Umuezeukwu was not attended to.
“So we are calling on the state government as a matter of urgency to come and implement this minimum of 500 meters setback from our houses.”
The President General of Umuezeukwu, Mr Ebere Adieze, said the community had faced harassment and intimidation for seeking to be heard regarding the project.
Adieze denied his alleged meeting with the Attorney-General of Abia, in which he was alleged to have accepted what was being done concerning the project.
“All those statements are all lies, I have never had any meeting of such with anybody at all.
“What we witnessed in Umuezeukwu, rather than having 500 metres, our houses and farmlands are now inside the airport.
“The issue is not compensation, it’s about our survival, letting us have alternative means of livelihood, as we all in this village are farmers,” he said.
According to him, our children and the next generation will not have a place to build houses or live anymore, if all the lands are taken in this quantum.
Another community leader, Chidiadi Ehilegbu, contended that the decision of the government to acquire additional land to construct an access road to the airport would further deprive the people of their means of livelihood.
“We aren’t talking about compensation.
The government is supposed to be for the people and as a community, we have some rights as well.
“We are demanding further reduction and have a roundtable discussion with us,” Ehilegbu said.
Responding, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Land Matters, Mr Okoro Aji dismissed the community claims, saying the state government had been fair to all the landowners.
Aji, a cleric, said the government had initially earmarked 1800 hectares for the project but reduced it twice to a little above 1000 hectares due to pleas from the landlords.
According to him, the initial plan of the project was to accommodate a railway station in the airport.
“ The state government has been very magnanimous and has taken away about 800 hectares. This has formed the final design. I don’t know what they want the state government to do.
“The airport is a Federal Government project, the state government only provided the land according to the Land Use Act,” he said.(NAN)
