The youths, women and elders of Ueken, an Ogoni community in Tai Local Government Area of Rivers State are fuming over alleged diversion of funds paid for acquisition of their land for the N20bn banana plantation project. PRECIOUS DIKEWOHA, who visited the community, reports that the aggrieved landowners are threatening showdown with the traditional ruler and members of the council of chiefs over their role in the deal
There was hardly a smiling face in Ueken community when Niger Delta Report visited the sleepy Ogoni town last Wednesday. The people were seething with anger and pain over the perceived act of betrayal by their leaders. The state government in August 2012 acquired their land for the Precious Banana Plantation project. The compensation money was reportedly paid to some elite and leaders of the community who, according to the people, diverted it into their own pockets. This has led to incessant protests and agitation among the youths of the community who have continued to disturb the operation of the Precious Banana Plantation Limited.
“What we are saying is who is to be compensated is it the chiefs or the landlords? Who represented them on the agreement that led to the alleged payment of the first compensation to their community? How much was paid and if the government actually paid something to the chiefs, where is the people’s share as landlords of the acquired land? These are questions that Ueken community needs urgent answers from their leaders,” a leader of the community said.
The people feel that some elite used their position to shortchange them.
One protester told our reporter: “When the people were eager to hear a positive result from such representation, they saw nothing. The worst thing is that since then these elite have refused to fight for our rights, instead they are busy praising government and blocking every effort for the community to express their plight.”
Chief Lucky Agbe, an aggrieved member of the Council of Chiefs, was overjoyed when he saw our reporter. He welcomed him and invited all the youths, women and elders who to meet with him to express their feelings. A town crier invited them to the village square where our reporter was properly briefed on the matter.
The Chairman, Community Development Committee (CDC), Mr. Anthony Nubani, said the news was everywhere that government had compensated the community.
“Everywhere you go, the people will tell you that government gave Ueken community billions of naira, but nobody in this community has collected kobo as compensation. We want to tell the world that our land was confiscated and till now we have not received anything. Government may claim to have given people money but we have not seen any money, we are the landlords,” he said.
Nubani said it was wrong for the government to give money to a handful of chiefs to pay landlord, lamenting that the government acquired their land without due consultation, negotiation and a concrete agreement as to due process of acquisition of land in Nigeria.
“The government connived with the Chiefs and Royal Highness of our community and grabbed our lands; they believed that lands in Ogoni belong to the chiefs and not the people. But as far as I am concern land in Ogoni and other parts of Nigeria belong to the people and the people are members of specific families. The chief can be a member of a particular family and community but the chief cannot own the whole land in a community.
“It is a fallacy for the chiefs, the paramount ruler of Ueken community to purportedly claim that land in Ogoni belongs to the chiefs. So on that basis we stand on our right. We have not signed any document with anybody either government or otherwise that our land should be sold or has been sold.”
Nubani posited that the constitution and Land Use Act do not abolish the right of the indigenous people who own their land, adding: “It does not claim all the land of the indigenous people, the constitution did not state that either local government, state or Federal Government should not negotiate with people in any particular area where they have interest in the acquisition of land.”
He said the people were prepared to confront the government and military over the land. He appealed to the international community and the National Human Rights Commission to wade into the perceived injustice being meted on the people. He said several letters to the Rivers State governor, the Rivers State House of Assembly and several petitions to the Inspector General of Police and the Commissioner of Agriculture have failed to give them justice.
“What we heard was that the people whom government claimed to have given money went and tipped them and for whatever reason the investigation was stalled. We wrote a letter to the EFCC and they told us that we should go to the police whereas the police have failed in their bid to investigate the matter.
“The National Human Rights Commission wrote to the EFCC acknowledging them of their role to investigate this case of fraud. All the documents in the course of this case are ready. Every ancestry rites of the Tai people came from Ueken. We remain the custodian of Tai culture and tradition and if Tai people will come out and lay false claim about Ueken people that all lands in Ogoni belongs to the government and the chiefs and not to the people, then it is an abomination and on that note we stand and continue to press forward that our rights and all payments due to Ueken people must be given to us.”
Nevertheless, Nubani assured that the people would continue to be law-abiding and peaceful in their determination to get justice. He said when they protested and stopped work at the farm, there was no harm done to the workers, the plantation and any other person. He said they merely remained there until the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Tai local government Hon. Mbaakponee Okpe came in with the, State Security Service (SSS) and Commander Internal Task Force and other security agents to address them
“The chairman promised us that by the next day we will be having a meeting of all those involved in this deal at the Presidential Hotel and he has promised to ensure that justice is done to us. It is on this note we suspended the protest. After the meeting with the chairman if nothing is done we will enter the farm and clear the banana, we are waiting for Rivers State government to bring whatever arms available to destroy us. We are ready. On this Ueken land, we will die.”
Agbe, who is at the forefront of this agitation, said he was attacked by members of the Council of Chiefs for backing his people.
“First and foremost, I was the person that took this matter to court. I am a member of the council of chiefs. When I heard about this matter that the military are coming to survey our land, I mentioned it in the council. I did not receive any fruitful answer from the council and I kept asking but I didn’t get any answer from them.
“We called on the paramount chief of this community to hold a stakeholders meeting and discuss what we’ve heard about the land. The answer we got was that he cannot hold such meeting for security reasons. Until today, I do not know what he calls ‘security reasons’ when the citizens of Ueken community want to discuss issues that affect them and we cannot sit amicably and resolve it.”
Agbe said when troops were moving into their farms, the people cried out. He said the soldiers moved into the farms, beat up and drove out the landowners, a development that compelled him to file a case in the Federal High Court, on behalf of the people. He said he addressed the human rights conferences in Lagos and in Benin. The case was struck out because the court lacked jurisdiction to hear it.
“Based on that we called on the Commissioner of Agriculture, but there was no fruitful reply. We have about 30 to 40 cases in court to prove that there has never been anytime where the chiefs of this community sought the opinion of the masses because of their selfish interest.
“They suspended me from the Council of Chiefs, accusing me of leaking out their secrets to the people. I told them to consider the poor. As you can see, many of us are not working. We are peasant farmers of about 3,000 in population. The land remaining for our population is not up to one-third of the land acquired for the banana plantation. It is the very place they surveyed that our people farmed last year. Even when the Managing Director of the banana plantation drove in to see the surveyed farm, he saw that our women were cultivating the farm. He was surprised because he was told that the site for the plantation was a forest where nobody has ever entered for cultivation.
“Now we are appealing for the matter to be addressed because it is getting out of hand. This year we are supposed to go there for farming but they said nobody should be found close to the farm if not they will kill us. But we are all going there to farm in between their banana stands, we will plant our crops and when it is time for harvest, we will also harvest our crops,” he vowed.
Comrade Saturday Ntaadua, Vice Chairman of Ueken Youth, who led the recent protest, said, “What we are hearing is that they gave the money to some people in the community, but those that received the money did not send any kobo to us. The money has not been paid to the rightful owners of the farmland. We will continue to protest until those who ate our money return it to us.”
Comrade Joseph Nsua said the few elites took the advantage of the poor citizens of the community who are not enlightened to oppress them. “If you take the statistics of this community you will see that few of them are educated while majority are not. It is like what caused the industrial revolution in Europe, the peasant farmers land where confiscated and at the end of the day they were told you must work for the company or you leave and that led to revolution.”
The National Coordinator of Ogoni Solidarity Forum (OSF), Mr. Celestine Akpobari, advised the state government to pay the aggrieved landowners. He said over 30,000 landowners have already lost their land. He regretted that the state government paid some traditional rulers for the land instead of the real owners.
A Non-Governmental Organisation, Social Action, also urged the government to compensate the landlords and not the chiefs. The group’s Head of Communications, Vivian Bellonwu said: “The state government should explain how a commercial venture undertaken by a foreign investor had satisfied the interest of the people under the Land Use Act to warrant the alleged seizure of land without compensation. The Federal Government should enforce the Environmental Impact Assessment law of 1992 with regard to the proposed commercial banana plantation in Ogoniland.”
Meanwhile, at the Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt where Hon. Mbaakponee Okpe arranged for a peaceful meeting between the accused and the complainant, he told the Niger Delta Report that he would not discuss anything with the press concerning the lingering crisis of the Precious Banana Plantation. He also accused the people of Ueken community of complicating issues and making things difficult for him by inviting the press to the venue of the meeting.
Chief Deede Fred, the head of Ueken community, who is accused of conniving with other chiefs in Ogoni land to divert the compensation money, commended our reporter for the effort he made to get his side of the story. He promised to call back, but never did.
When the reporter called him again his phone was unanswered. A text message sent to him with details of why he was making the call was un-replied. Two days later, the reporter called back, he picked the calls, but as soon as he identified himself as a journalist, Deede hung up.
Commissioner for Agriculture Mr. Emma Chinda described the protesters as jokers. He explained that the government would always follow the normal procedure in land acquisition.
He said the Amaechi administration did not seize land from members of the community, adding: “We do not owe anybody, and we did not seize any land from any landlord or community. This government has always put the people first before anything, the idea of banana plantation was not to intimidate anybody but for the economic development of Rivers people.”
