Ngwuagu community in Abor, Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State, has expressed fears of mass suicide among its citizens should Enugu State government go-ahead to carry out its intention to acquire their only ancestral land.

The community which stated this is in a passionate letter they sent to the state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, said the acquisition of the land known as Uzami Ngwuagu would amount to the “government signing death warrants of members of the community.”

The community said it learnt of government’s intention for the said land from the state Commissioner for Lands, Mr Solomon Onah, during a meeting he (the commissioner) summoned the town union executives to on February 2, 2018.

The commissioner, he said, refused to disclose what the government intended to do with the land, but only stated that the acquisition was for overriding public interest.

The representatives of the community explained to him that the land was the only land they inherited from their forefathers and have been living in and farming there since time immemorial.

They further informed the commissioner that the land had “been parcelated and shared to families in the community,” stressing that over “200 buildings have already been erected on the land.”

•Culled from a Vanguard report

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