Family Cries Out Over Land Grabbing

Some elders of  Umuotamiri Igwe family in Umuamadi Umuerim section of Opiro Community in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, have called for urgent government intervention to save the community from crisis.
The elders said the call was necessary following the spate of land grabbing allegedly being carried out by some indigenes of the family.
The elders said this in a press release made available to newsmen at the end of their meeting in the community.
They also accused some of their sons of being behind land grabbing in the area.
They, however, blamed it on the get-rich-quick syndrome which has pervaded the society, including Opiro community.
According to them, the  lands bequeathed to them by their ancestors for agricultural and infrastructural  development purposes are being allegedly grabbed and sold by some unscrupulous sons of the area.
They  also accused them of siding with strangers to disposssess them of their land, adding that the situation has resulted to hardship since there is no more land for farming.
According to the people, “their desperate children on the get-rich quick syndrome forcefully entered their ancestral land called Okwu Uso farmland located along Opiro -Afara Road between the  popular OPM Junction and Opiro community without the nod of their leaders and elders in council and began to sell plots of land to people which are over three hectares of land.”
They also alleged that the boys mount daily with weapons at the edges of the large land with unknown faces for at least eight months now causing their little children to drop out from school for lack of income and  access to harvest their farm crops of last year , emphasising that the said land is a property of the family and not that of an individual.
The leaders and elders, who are in their eighties advised those patronising them on the illegal land transaction, to get their money back from them rather than aiding and abetting crime to avoid regret at the end because their culture and tradition permit elders and leaders from the affected family to sign family land documents.
The release jointly signed by Elder Hycent Otamiri; Sunday Ukadibia, Joseph Otamiri, Elder Donatus Otamiri, Chief Elect Moses Amadi and the family chairman, Onyebuchi Chioma  said the situation could lead to crisis without the urgent intervention of the government.
They also warned those patronising them to desist in their own interest as the family will not recognise their ownership of these lands.
According to the release. “the  people appealed to the Rivers State Government, security agents in the State, the Nigeria Police Command, Rivers State, Etche Local Government Council and the Federal Government to prevail on those patronising the illegality and their desperate children to stop and follow their traditional doctrine on land matters before their actions  escalate.