Only God knows how their biafra for be. Every 3 streets is an autonomous community

Madam fighter, anti-male activist


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Tomide007:
His fellow oil mogul (Alakija) is building a teaching Hospital in Osun state, Arthur is busy fighting the poor...

Mr we already have two teaching hospitals
Federal and state....

So what you saying exactly?

Alakija is building what others completed many years ago.

Lonelypacifist6:
The man should sue for libel, there's no evidence against him, all are speculations let him teach her a lesson you don't just wake up and start accusing people of doing things.

Close that Gutter you called mouth Ewu

Lonelypacifist6:
The man should sue for libel, there's no evidence against him, all are speculations let him teach her a lesson you don't just wake up and start accusing people of doing things.

Exactly my thoughts.

MelesZenawi:


Mr we already have two teaching hospitals
Federal and state....

So what you saying exactly?

Alakija is building what others completed many years ago.

I don't get u, so she should not build it....or u have too much?

ednut1:
Only God knows how their biafra for be. Every 3 streets is an autonomous community

Maybe u didn't read land grabbing syndicate operating in Lagos and ogun state..

Biafra always your nightmare.

Move back to Togo and Benin republic and join your people.

You guys are more related to them.

Shame on you Chiamanda for showing your shallow mindedness in this write up. Your Community got a stay of execution since 1999, did see Ukpo people around the land. What do you think, that you will use stay to continue to enjoy what is not yours? Sorry, the real owners waited patiently like law abiding people until justice is done. Those that built your Oye Abba on the disputed land all served sentences in prison for contemp in 1996 go and ask your people. Prince Arthur Eze did not use his contact even when such harassment was done when Gen Abacha who gave him Dunukofia LGA was alive.
I thought that an educated mind like Chiamanda would have bought or borrowed a copy of the final Supreme Court judgement before maligning a Godfearing and aa peace loving Ukpo town.

GidiWoodsMan:
Get a load of this guy, he looks like a corpse already.

One foot in the grave yet he's still fighting and killing his own kinsmen over land he doesn't actually need

Afonja,where did you see 'kill' ?

MelesZenawi:


Mr we already have two teaching hospitals
Federal and state....

So what you saying exactly?

Alakija is building what others completed many years ago.

.

Great writer

Dawn of the titans

noble0:
Chimamamanda Adichie accuses Igbo billionaire, Arthur Eze, of grabbing the ancestral land of Abba people, her ancestral homeland. He also accuses Arthur Eze of having done the same in Abagana, Ifitedunu and Ukwulu, all neighbouring towns to Ukpo, through his bags of money.


Read her write about it:

My hometown under siege

One night in July, the signboards disappeared. The people of Abba, my hometown in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra state, woke up to see that the signboards were gone — the signboard that said ‘Welcome to Abba Town’ had vanished. The signboard mounted by the state government that said ‘Drive safely through Abba’ had vanished. Every signboard that announced Abba’s boundary had disappeared.

In a country where signboards exist to make communities visible, this was an act of erasure, a way of saying to a community: you no longer exist. An attack on a community’s autonomy. An aggression. But how could it have happened? There are laws, after all, and signboards set up by the state government cannot arbitrarily be torn down. It happened because the Nigerian police accompanied people at night to commit this illegal act. Witnesses saw them: the police vans, their flashing lights, their guns. And it happened because a Nigerian billionaire, Prince Arthur Eze, is financing a campaign of intimidation in order to win a land dispute.

Land disputes are depressingly common all over Nigeria – Awka-Amawbia, Umuleri-Aguleri, and Ife-Modakeke are some well-known examples – but perhaps what makes Abba-Ukpo different is the brazen meddling of a wealthy man. The land in question is called Agu Abba – a vast stretch of woods, farmland, and a market, Oye Abba, with roofed wooden stalls. All land cases are complex, but here is a simplified history of this case: In 1967, shortly after the Nigeria-Biafra war began, Abba sued a nearby town, Ukwulu, for trespassing on its land. A state high court ruled in Abba’s favour.

After the war, Ukwulu questioned the legitimacy of the ruling, as Biafra no longer existed. Abba then sued again in 1975. The case dragged on until 1985 when Ukpo, another nearby town, formerly a witness for Ukwulu, made a surprising volte face and joined the suit, claiming some of the land as theirs. The suits were subsequently consolidated and in 1999 a state high court ruled in Ukwulu/Ukpo’s favour. Abba got a stay of execution on the judgment. Then something strange happened: the record of proceedings in the case suddenly disappeared. The Anambra State government set up a panel of inquiry, which sat for three months and returned empty-handed to say they could not find the court records.

Abba filed an appeal but the appeal failed because the record of proceedings, which are indispensable materials for the determination of the appeal, could not be presented. Abba then appealed to the Supreme Court. In a lead judgment, Paul Adamu Galumje referred to the disappearance of the records and asked both parties to go back to the state high court and ‘sort out the mess.’

So Abba went back to file suit in state court, where the case is currently ongoing.

“Do court records just get up and walk away?” a spokesperson for Abba said. “We all know Prince Arthur Eze paid people to destroy the records. We don’t have money but we will fight him with the truth in court.”

But before the case could proceed in court, the siege of Abba began.

On June 19, 2019, Oye Abba market was full of people trading in vegetables and yams when police vans screeched in and policemen leapt out, shooting tear gas canisters, pushing and hitting traders and buyers, asking everyone to leave the market immediately. People ran. Children cried. Two weeks later, more policemen arrived at the market, destroying the wares of innocent people. And again a few days later. The terrorized traders then abandoned the market and set up on a busy intersection at the center of Abba, a less than ideal site, but the only option left to them.

I began to ask questions and soon learned that it wasn’t just mass harassment of market traders, there was also a more targeted harassment of individuals who had spoken up for Abba in the land dispute.

On July 3, 2019 policemen from the Force Criminal Investigation Department, Area 10, Garki Abuja arrived early in the morning and arrested three people from Abba. A woman was about to unlock her shop on the main road in Abba when policemen jumped on her and arrested her. A man was about to leave home for his construction work site when policemen barged through his door, scaring his family, and bundled him away. They were detained first at the State CID for one week and then were moved to Abuja where they were detained for two weeks.

“On what charges?” I asked a young man, a member of the Abba Youth, who has witnessed the events from the beginning.

‘They had a long list of charges, including conspiracy and attempted murder,” he said.

“Attempted murder of whom?”

“It’s all nonsense. They fabricated charges, based on zero evidence, and took them to Abuja just to intimidate them and make them give up our land.”

The point of these illegal arrests is indeed intimidation. But many in Abba were not cowed. The Abba town union organized a peaceful protest along the Enugu-Onitsha expressway, on the spot where the signboards were torn down, to raise awareness about what was happening. They had no weapons, only their voices. Shortly after the protest began, the police arrived in large numbers. Some witnesses said there were at least 100 policemen, which in a small protest in a small town is akin to a hostile invasion by state machinery. The police fired tear gas to disperse the protest. The young man I spoke to was there, and told me how his eyes burned for days afterwards.

“There were so many tear gas canisters, up to 300, and they were brand new. We all know the police in this area don’t have that much. Who paid for the tear gas? Arthur Eze,” he said.

Abba Women also organized a protest to appeal to the governor for help. Hundreds of women gathered at the government house, all dressed in somber black, carrying signs, and singing mournful songs. Watching the video, one cannot help but be moved by these women, by their determination, their orderliness, their commitment to peaceful means of protest. They wanted the governor to step in and stop the police harassment of Abba indigenes. One of the cardboard signs they carried read: Stop police harassment of Abba. Another, to my surprise, read: Arthur Eze, emulate Alhaji Aliko Dangote. He does not use his money to intimidate people. He uses his money to invest wisely.

The Abba town union wrote detailed letters of complaint to the DSS, the state governor and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. An excerpt from the letter to the President reads: “It is no secret that the I. G. P. Adamu Mohammed is being used by a known moneybag in Ukpo, Prince Arthur Eze, to intimidate and silence Abba people like he did to their neighbouring Abagana community.”

As a child I was often skeptical of historical stories in which the homeland of the storyteller was always in the right. And so my natural skepticism made me ask why Prince Arthur Eze would engage in this violent campaign of intimidation, and whether perhaps he was being unfairly maligned. Where was the evidence? How could we be sure that Prince Arthur Eze was indeed responsible?

“Arthur Eze wants to build a university named after him, and Ukpo doesn’t have any land big enough and so he wants to take our land,” the young man said.

Prince Arthur Eze has a documented history of muscling his way into contested land – in the past few years he has used the police to terrorize another nearby town, Abagana, after which he annexed their land. But perhaps the clearest evidence that Prince Arthur Eze is the mastermind of the harassment in the Abba-Ukpo case comes from his own words. After the Supreme Court judgment, Prince Arthur Eze called the traditional ruler of Abba, Igwe LN Ezeh and asked for a meeting on May 21, 2019 at the Geneva Hotel in Okpuno, a town near Awka. There, Prince Eze made a proposal: if Abba agreed to abandon the court case and share the land with Ukpo, he would call off the police. Igwe LN Ezeh told him that Abba people wanted to conclude the case in court. There are witnesses to this meeting. It was after this meeting that the police harassment of Abba indigenes went into full force.

Today in Abba people live in fear. Rumours swirl every day. Somebody says there is a list of Abba people to be arrested. Another says the police are coming from Abuja to arrest the town union members. Another says the community school, partly located on the disputed land, will be completely demolished. Some fearful parents keep their children home from school. When a big car with tinted windows drives through Abba, the people worry. Some men skulk away. Who will be arrested today? Who will be harassed? Who will sleep in a cell tonight?

My 87-year-old father, a retired university professor, is bewildered. He is from a passing generation of principled Nigerians who do not understand how a single individual can buy and control the Nigerian police force. After my father heard of an Abba man abducted while driving through Ukpo, his empty car left abandoned by the roadside, he asked my brother to take a longer route to a Pharmacy rather than drive through Ukpo. He feared for my brother’s safety. I fear for my parents’ safety. I fear for my hometown now unfairly living in distress.

Most recently, on September 6, 2019, Abba people woke up to see a Caterpillar demolishing the structures of Oye Abba market, while armed policemen and mobile policemen stood guard. Abba people watched, helpless and hapless, as the economic center of their small community was destroyed. The Caterpillar also demolished the walls of the nearby community secondary school, only days before students are supposed to return to school. Now the school walls and the market stalls are

a jumble of broken wood and cement, and a symbol of a brokenness in our system. Abba-Ukpo might well be a provincial land dispute, but it speaks to larger issues in Nigeria. A wealthy individual has turned the Nigerian police into his private terror group. Those deemed protectors of the people have become their attackers. Those supposed to uphold the law are now the practitioners of a particular kind of lawlessness lubricated by crass wealth.

Not all members of the police seem to be so shamefully on sale — the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, and the Divisional Police Officers of Ukpo and Abagana refused to harass Abba because they believed it to be illegal. But the consequences for them were swift: they were unceremoniously transferred to other states.

I don’t know who has a legitimate claim to the land – it has for decades been known as Agu Abba and farmed by Abba people in the often-unwritten rules that govern customary land ownership. But that is what the courts should determine, in a process free from meddling. Court records should not disappear. No community in Nigeria should be terrorized by state machinery. No private citizen should have the power to turn the police on an entire community. Injustice is stalking Anambra state and the rights of every citizen should be protected. It is in protecting the rights of others that we protect our own rights, because we create a system of rights from which all can potentially benefit.

As I ended my conversation with the young man, he said, “Please don’t use my name. The police will come and abduct me and take me to Abuja. My family is poor. I don’t have anybody to bring me food in Abuja, not to talk of bailing me out.”

I was struck by his use of the word ‘abduct.’ Some members of the Nigerian police have soiled its name and its legitimacy. The Nigerian police has been used to cause great harm in Abba. The Nigerian police must now refuse to be used any longer. The Nigerian police must show that it is not for sale. The Nigerian police must stand up for justice and fair play. Stop the harassment of innocent Abba citizens, and let the courts decide.


https://m.guardian.ng/features/my-hometown-under-siege/

Shithole situation in an Shithole country. Suffering and smiling

olisaEze:
Very well written and moving masterpiece that paints a vivid image of what ur people are goin thru. Unfortunately, ure preaching to the choir! The Nigerian police is strictly for the highest bidder. Nor try go station go speak all these big big grammar o, okorofo wii arrest u “for trying to confuse police!”

You can say that again. "veey well written" I read every line.

Tomide007:

I don't get u, so she should not build it....or u have too much?

Simply put, don't rush to generalise, what Alakija is building today, has been done and dusted here since.....



No need for that comparison.

Lonelypacifist6:
The man should sue for libel, there's no evidence against him, all are speculations let him teach her a lesson you don't just wake up and start accusing people of doing things.

Oga don't say what you don’t know, even my ancestral compounds that are about 22km from Abba junction were also claimed by Arthur Eze as the land he bought. Though I blame my community chiefs because they all know the bribes they took just to sell people's land.

Jlow2:
In the case of abagana, a wealthy transporter from abagana "eugenco motors" fought him untill authur eze used the police to arrest him from abuja

Eugenco done die last year ooo.
Funny enough,his corpse got burnt (with others sha) mysteriously in a mortuary where it was preserved b4 it was finally buried.

He equally

MelesZenawi:


Simply put, don't rush to generalise, what Alakija is building today, has been done and dusted here since.....



No need for that comparison.

Hmm....nairaland get pple sha

Aurtur Eze is an evil man. He uses philanthropy to cover his evil deeds. Money can make man a monster to his fellow human beings. Only God can deliver the people of Abba.

Igbo people really need to learn how to wash their dirty underwears in secret! You've not been granted Biafra, you've started to grab your ancestral lands by yourselves. So what will happen if you miraculously get Biafran license? How exactly do you expect non indigenes to meddle into land grabbing cases? Besides did the ancestral land sell itself to Arthur?

This BABE and Writings no be here oooo

Death is not by age; it's by appointment.

GidiWoodsMan:
Get a load of this guy, he looks like a corpse already.

One foot in the grave yet he's still fighting and killing his own kinsmen over land he doesn't actually need

jayson87:
She should write another boring book about land grabbing and get her usual undeserving accolades

I sense pain

Tomide007:

Hmm....nairaland get pple sha

Thank you sire.

If not for my likeness for Akeredolu ie Aketi the master project and makinde...I for follow u up with attacks....you safe ..... coming from Aketi base.


Others are hogwash like Awolowo.

A REBUTTAL TO:
MY HOME TOWN IS UNDER SIEGE,
AN ARTICLE PUBISHED IN THE GUARDIAN OF 20/9/19, WRITTEN BY CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE, BEST SELLING AUTHOR.

When I read Adichie’s article, the first emotion that flooded through me was anger. There she was, the entire page 12 in the Guardian devoted to her; adorned with her personality, juxtaposed with her flowing prose but crisscrossed with fabrics of ignorance, half-truths, outright lies and sheer fabrications. In literature, Ngozi Adichie is precocious and a prodigy, respected in Nigeria and around the world. How could she put her shiny reputation on the line with such a spectacularly uninformed adventure, even for her beloved hometown? How dare her turn facts on its head and try to subvert the immutability of truth and the integrity of history! In fiction, Adichie is permitted to create her own version of reality; however, in the real world, reality is protected by facts, and facts are sacrosanct.

Just then I remembered, and I was not angry with her any more. I remembered that Ngozi Adichie, with all her literally achievements, hails from Abba, a bellicose and belligerent town. In her community, pugnacity is an inheritance, and mendacity is in the heritage. There is a saying that you cannot completely cure madness, even with the best education!

Adichie may be the last hope for Abba to thwart the course of justice. They have tried to instigate communal clash; Ukpo and Ukwulu did not take the bait. They serially tried in the court of law, and failed every step of the way. They stole the trial court’s Record of Proceedings to force a re-trail; that also failed. They enlisted the sympathy of Anambra government; so far not much concrete result. Now it seems, Adichie is Abba’s last hope. To be fair to Adichie, she would not be the only person to put her reputation on the line for her beloved town, but she must also be prepared to the muddied in the process.

An important indigene of Abba recently told me that in this land dispute between Ukpo and Abba, Prince Arthur Eze makes the only difference. In other words, Ukpo could not defeat Abba if not for the involvement of Arthur Eze. I thought that was stupid statement because you cannot separate Ukpo and Arthur, but it goes directly to the heart of their plan to use Chimamanda Adichie to discredit Prince Arthur Eze. Currently, the battle cry in Abba is to destroy Ukpo’s case by first destroying the reputation of Arthur. The way Abba reckons it, their illustrious daughter has enough standing to sully Prince Arthur’s image and depict him as a wealthy bully who represents all that is wrong with Nigeria; to cast him as an influential man who has the police in his pocket; a land grabbing billionaire who would stop at nothing to forcibly acquire other people’s land; and a mean-spirited man who uses his wealth to oppress Abba people instead of improving lives. In a nutshell, that is the sole purpose of her article – to damage Arthur’s public image and make it stick. But she does not know Arthur. In the words of my people (God bless Ukpo), what can a small rat do to an iron pot?

I can bet my farm that Adichie has never met Arthur Eze. If she had, she would have known better, much better. You do not have to be Arthur’s friend or kinsman to attest to the fact that he is the most conciliatory, the kindest person, and arguably the most public-spirited billionaire God created. If Adichie has ever met Arthur, she would know that he has no iota of meanness in him, and that the Almighty God created Arthur for the sole purpose of giving, as opposed to amassing anything, least of all land. If Adichie is given the least insight into the land matter between Abba and Ukpo, she would have known that Arthur Eze is Abba’s best advocate, to the chagrin of his own kinsmen.

WHAT ARE THE FACTS

Nogozi Adichie is too young to have had any meaningful personal experience of the land dispute, so it is safe to assume that her parents and kinsmen handed down the story to her. Yet the sheer number of lies, the falsifications, exaggerations and the gusto with which she handled her ill-fated presenttion are simply stunning. My task therefore is to state the facts, set the records straight. The land dispute has lasted for more than 44 years, so the best approach will be to chronicle the important timelines.

Brief History: The existence of Abba as a community is a consequence of ancient inter-communal war, when its progenitor, Ichinambubor, a mercenary from Ichida, fought against Ukpo and Ifite-Dunu. He was captured; but instead of putting a sword through his heart as was the norm in those days, his life was spared. An expert wine tapper, Ichinambubor was, again contrary to what obtained in those ancient time, settled in Ukpo and Ifite-Dunu lands, where he was engaged in palm-wine tapping (you could argue that Ukpo and Ifite-Dunu liked buzz!!). Being a virtual slave, Ukpo and Ifite-Dunu refused to grant Ichinambubor a wife, so he ventured afar to Abagana to take a wife. His first son was named Abamulu, meaning that Abagana made it possible. The present-day Abba is thus descendant from Ichinambubor and his son, Abamulu. That Abba community is now rising to challenge Ukpo, the original settlers and their benefactor, to a land dispute is testament to Ukpo’s magnanimity. It is also a testament to Abba’s perfidy. But there it is: in the last 80 years or so, Abba embarked on massive land annexation and expansionist endeavors. They encroached upon Ukpo and Ukwulu lands, and farmed and hunted far beyond imaginable scopes. In the last 44 years, they set out to make the lands permanently theirs. They took Ukwulu to court accusing them of trespass. After initially serving as witness for Ukwulu and alarmed that Abba was also claiming a big chunk of Ukpo land, Ukpo joined the suite in a consolidated format as 2nd set of defendants (Suite Nos. AA/53/75 & AA/ 11/77).

JUSTICE OBIORA NWAZOTA: On 12TH November 1999 the Chief Judge of Anambra State, His Lordship Hon Justice Obiora Nwazota, delivered judgement in consolidated suites in favor of the two brothers, Ukpo and Ukwulu communities. The learned Chief Judge dismissed the claims of the plaintiffs (Abba) with respect to the disputed land, whilst the reliefs sought by the 1st and 2nd sets of defendants (Ukwulu and Ukpo) with claims to the land as “Agu Odoagba” and Ogwulugwu Land” in Ukwulu and Ukpo, respectively, were granted. This case was the last decided by Justice Nwazota, as he retired from the bar, as well as Anambra Chief Judge effective afterward.

JUSTICE G.C. ONONIBA: On 18TH November 1999, Abba filed a notice to appeal and were given the conditions of appeal, with which they proceeded to obtain stay of execution from His Lordship, Justice G.C. Ononiba (now Chief Judge of Anambra State) on 11/12/2000. Curiously, Justice Ononiba, from Nimo which claims kinship with Abba, granted an unconditional stay of execution to Abba, thereby presenting to the plaintiffs (Abba) through the back door what they could not obtain during the substantive suit.

Armed with the unconditional stay of execution against Nwazota’s judgement of 12 November 1999, Abba lost interest in pursuing the appeal. And even though the stay bounded all parties over to maintain peace in the area and on the disputed land, Abba entered the land, setting up the infamous “Oye Abba” market, indiscriminately planting signages, building shops, renting plots to GSM operators and collecting tolls, while they plotted to subvert justice. (Justice Nwazota’s judgement was considered so thorough that the only option available to Abba to overturn it was by destroying the Record of Proceedings, in order to force a completely new trial.)

SETTING THEIR SUBVERSSIVE PLOT IN MOTION: (23RD October 2003 is a fateful day, so mark the date. But this background story first.)

During the Justice Nwazota’s trial, Ukpo and Ukwulu had compelling evidence. All our neighbours: Enugu-Agidi, Nawgu, Awkuzu, all stood witness to the fact that Ukpo and Ukwulu have been their land neighbors for centuries. Nobody in the immediate vicinity bore witness for Abba. Abba claimed kinship with Abagana and Nimo but were hard pressed to prove why they do not have contiguous borders with Umu Owelle. Traditionally in those days, brothers lived next to one another, and if Abba was blood relative of Abagana and Nimo and Ezi-Owelle, it should have been placed in direct contiguity with them. On the other hand, Ukpo proved without shadow of doubt that we were the original settlers and all Dunu brothers lived contiguously. The evidence and witnesses were iron cast, and Abba knew it. They had to find another way to circumvent justice.

They hired a new lead lawyer, the indefatigable Wole Olanipekun (SAN). The new lawyers found a creative way, the Western style: if the Record of Proceedings disappeared, they would be in a position to argue for trial de novo (a new trial). This strategy was particularly enticing because all the witnesses who appeared on behalf of Ukpo and Ukwulu were, by this time, dead. So why not, they would give it a shot; a big shot it was! Abba sent out town criers every night to impose levies for the war chest. I could hear them late in the night, cajoling and threatening those who were hesitant to pay. For good measure, Abba hired a legal consultant, one retired Justice Olike, from Nawfia, whose wife was conveniently the Assistant Registrar of Anambra State High Court. So now, Mrs. Olike, the Assistant Registrar, was in the bag! The plot was actualized on 23rd October 2003 (I told you, remember this date). That was the date the Record of Proceedings containing the judgement of Justice Nwazota disappeared, never to be found again. (How do we know this date? You’ll find out later.)

Being now rest-assured that the Record of Proceedings has disappeared for good, Abba went on the offense, yelling that they cannot transmit records to the Appeal Court in Enugu because Ukpo had stolen the Record of Proceedings to frustrate their appeal. Never mind that this is a text book example of crocodile tears.

Early in 2004, alarmed by the insidious scheming by Abba, a group called CONCERNED CITIZENS OF UKPO, wrote a petition to the Nigerian Judicial Commission (NJC), requesting an investigation into the missing Record. And lo and behold, six months later the NJC set up the Otuocha Panel of Enquiry, headed by Honorable Justice P.A.C. Abidigwe, to look into the missing Record. The Panel released its report on 15/12/2006, and the most important finding was that the Record of Proceedings was last signed for on 23rd October 2003 by the office of Mrs. Olike, the Assistant Registrar of Anambra State High Court. I told you, remember 23rd October 2003; and remember Mrs Olike. Her husband was the Chief Legal Consultant of Abba in the case. In conclusion, Tribunal pointedly stated that Mrs Olike, Abba and their legal team had a case to answer regarding the missing Record.

Does anybody still doubt that Abba bribed, connived and conspired to steal and destroy the Record of Proceedings? Remember it took Abba less than one month to file notice of appeal and obtain a stay of execution, but did not file the substantive appeal in four years. Appellants are required to satisfy the conditions of appeal by, among other things, transmitting records to the Appeal Court within 6 months, failing which they will be out of time to appeal (unless they ask for time extension). In this case, Abba was out of time and did not show any desire to prosecute their appeal, did not ask for time extension in six months, one year, two, three, then four years. At which time their case had suffered a mortal defect.

APPEAL COURT ENUGU: In line with their original plot, Abba approached the Appeal Court Enugu, armed with the plea that the Record of Proceedings was missing, and asked the Court (via motion No. CA/E/30/2009) to direct the Anambra State High Court to start the case de novo. Remember: since Nwazota’s judgement, this has been their over-arching strategy. However, on 27/6/2016, the motion was struck out by the Appeal Court for want of record.

SUPREME COURT: Expressing dissatisfaction with the Appeal Court ruling, Abba approached the Supreme Court, pleading denial of fair hearing. The Apex court directed the Appeal Court to re-instate the motion (No. SC/115/2009) on the basis of human right to fair hearing.

BACK TO APPEAL COURT: Again, the Appeal Court on 11/7/2017 resolved all issues canvassed by Abba in favor of Ukpo and Ukwulu, and threw out the appeal. The higher court also vacated Justice Ononiba’s 12/11/1999 stay of execution, paving the way for Ukpo and Ukwulu to re-possess their lands.

BACK TO SUPREME COURT: Abba rushed back to Supreme Court and formulated 4 grounds of appeal against the Court of Appeal’s ruling. On 15th of February 2019, in a lead judgement delivered by Hon. Justice Paul Adamu Galumje, the Supreme Court ruled against Abba and in favor of Ukpo and Ukwulu in all the four issues formulated, and also awarded N1,000,000 cost in favor of the defendants, Ukpo and Ukwulu.

ABBA’S FIXATION ON PAGE 27

The Supreme Court judgement of 15th February 2019 runs in over 37 pages, but Abba is fixated on only page 27. Abba’s distraction stems from the fact that the learned Justice took an academic expedition. Before arriving at the four issues formulated for the Appeal by Abba, the lead judge, Hon. Justice Paul Adamu Galumje had undertaken what laymen could describe as philosophical and intellectual excursion. During that ventilation, the learned Justice introspected on the impact of the missing Record of Proceedings on the concept of justice itself. Lawyers call this type of reverie “obiter dictum”, an unforce-able point of view, which is irrelevant when points of law are being considered. Alas, Justice Galumje expressed an “obiter” which Abba found complementary to their cause, and they are determined to hold on to it, like a drowning man furiously grasping a sinking trunk. But Justice Adamu Galumje’s view was a casual expression of a viewpoint while he was on his way to the law points. An “obiter” is unforce-able.

On the other hand, there is “ratio decidendi”, which are the pivotal points of any suite. Abba formulated 4 grounds in their appeal. None of them asked the Supreme Court for trial de novo. Neither was de novo canvassed during any of the hearings. Delivering judgement on all four grounds, the Court ruled in favor of Ukpo and Ukwulu and awarded costs to the same parties. Lawyers will tell you that the court does not give that which is not asked for. At any rate “obiter” cannot be enforced against “ratio”.

Abba has done a great de-service to her illustrious daughter, Chimamanda Adichie, by not availing her of the Supreme Court judgement; because you do not have to be a lawyer to understand the ruling. Which is the reason why I am shocked that not one person in the whole of Abba town could correctly read, understand and explain the judgement to their community. If Chimamanda was given, and read, the Supreme Court judgement before she wrote her article in the Guardian, I will be entitled to make a case of intellectual deficit against her!!

WARRANT OF POSSESSION

Supreme Court represents the bus-stop of all litigations in Nigeria; when it rules on any case, one can only appeal to God. In line with this time-tested legalistic wisdom, the Chief Judge of Anambra State, upon being served the Supreme Court judgement, issued Ukpo and Ukwulu the clearance (Warrant of Entry) to re-possess their lands. Or, is Abba community suggesting that the Chief Judge of Anambra State does not understand the Supreme Court judgement? The Commissioner of Police Anambra State has been served the Supreme Court judgement, as well as the Warrant of Entry; that is why the Police is on firm ground in upholding the law and enforcing the peace on the erstwhile disputed land. Or, is Abba community also suggesting that the Commissioner of Police does not understand the Supreme Court ruling?

ABBA SAID IT’S BACK IN COURT

Abba insists it has once again filed a suite on the same settled issues at a trial court in Anambra State. The mere fact of Abba filing another suite on same issues on which the Supreme court has ruled is itself seminal and profound. Because what Abba is asking Anambra State trial court to do is to set aside the Supreme Court ruling! That is huge, and I am sure, Chimamanda will be able to put this new gigantic development in her most colorful prose.

olisaEze:
Very well written and moving masterpiece that paints a vivid image of what ur people are goin thru. Unfortunately, ure preaching to the choir! The Nigerian police is strictly for the highest bidder. Nor try go station go speak all these big big grammar o, okorofo wii arrest u “for trying to confuse police!”

Tolexander:
Learn not to believe everything you see.

Learn not making your judgement from one side of the story.

Baba calm down Ebonyi state people are coming with there own wahala cos the governor also sold out a university plots to Arthur Eze as a pay back for his support during his governorship campaign, and the government nevertheless knew there land had been sold! Now he is dragging the Governor to court,

[s]

solmusdesigns:



Madam fighter, anti-male activist


..

[/s]
shut up
you don't know anything

I think this Eze is fulani
he wants to use the land for ruga
he's a fulani herdsman
only fulani steals land
Biafrans dont kill eachother
BTW have you blamed fulani herdsmen today?

Why is the Nigerian police a tool of the rich and a real display that stupidity and injustice is real in our law enforcement

Instead of Arthur Eze to use his wealth to impact positively on the lives of his people, he is using it to intimidate them. SHAME!


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