Nsulu Stakeholders Forum, NSF, has expressed dismay and shock over a statement credited to the Abia State government that about 3,500 land owners affected by the runway of the Abia Airport project in Nsulu, in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area (LGA) have received compensation, with assurances that outstanding payments will be settled once all indemnity certificates are completed.

The Abia State Government through the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, had disclosed the compensation at the weekend during a fact-finding visit to the project site, alongside Commissioner for Lands and Housing, Mr. Chaka Chukwumerije; Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Mr. Matthew Ekwuribe; and the Airport Project Coordinator, Pastor Okorougo Aje.

Ajagba explained that the visit followed complaints from some community members who claimed they had not been paid. He clarified that most cases of non-payment were due to account issues or incomplete indemnity certificates, while stressing that the government remained committed to honouring all agreements.

However, the Nsulu Stakeholders Forum, NSF, while reacting through its Convener, Mazi Chigoram, said: “It is sad that the Abia State government has decided to opt for propaganda as a way of resolving the Nsulu land matter that the Otti government is bent on seizing without following due process.

“The matter is before the state High Court in Okpuala Ngwa, which in December last year directed the state government not to take any further step until the matter is heard and determined. The Abia State government has refused to obey the court order. Another matter is pending before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, as the court has adjourned till October 2, for judgment by the genuine land owners who are arguing:

*That the defendants without meeting mandatory condition precedent to commencement of construction on an airport, to wit, subjecting the proposed site to environmental impact assessment and as enjoined by the Environmental Impact Assessment Act [1992], is a fundamental breach of the law and thus unlawful and void, same being an act done in breach of the Federal Republic of Nigeria extant laws.

*That the award of the contract for the Abia Airport project without subjecting the design stage and construction stage of the project to an open and competitive bidding process in accordance with the Bureau of Public Procurement Act, 2007[otherwise BPP] is unlawful, void and of no effect, same being an act done in breach of extant laws Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“That the Federal Ministry of Environment failed in discharging its obligations under the law to conduct an environmental impact assessment on the land same being an area prone to gully erosion, densely occupied by the claimants, ancestral homesteads, and other forms of environmental problems that will lead to extinction of claimants communities and repudiation of the environment and the eco-system.

“What is going on is that the state government is mobilizing party members and people from communities whose lands are not in the project area to deceive the world that compensation is being paid and that the people are with them.

“Please, ask the governor or any of his agents, how much are they paying for the land, the economic crops and trees, sources of drinking water they are closing, burial grounds and shrines of the people they want to take over, how much are they paying?

“What government is doing now is to force some people to sign indemnity forms, without any explanation and few people paid were paid as low as N100,000 irrespective of the number of plots that fall within the supposedly airport area. Is that how compensation is paid without the people knowing what is due to them?

“It is strange that the Otti government is in a hurry to take over peoples’ land without waiting for the courts to decide on the matters before them and without following due process. He should know that he is not the first governor and will not be the last. Other governments will come after him and be rest assured that Nsulu people will battle this case to the highest court.

“You not want sack people from their only sources of survival, land and hope they we will keep quiet, we will not. Our people should not give in to government lies and propaganda, it will not work.

“We are not opposed to the airport project, but let them wait till the courts decide and let them follow due process,” NSF added. (Vanguard)

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