By Jude Atupulazi
But for the quick intervention of the new Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Nnaghe Obono Itam, a major break down in security would have taken place, Friday, October 4, following an alleged siege on the community land belonging to Ezinano Community of Awka in a disputed land between the community and Umuzocha, another community in the same area.
It was gathered that the leaders, women and youths of Ezinano Community in Awka had stormed their ancestral land which the Umuzuocha Community is laying claim to as their own, only to be confronted by several plain clothes Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) operatives who laid siege to the area.
Findings revealed that if not the quick intervention of the State Commissioner of Police, CP Obono Nnaghe Itam, who ordered that all the parties leave the scene immediately, there could have been a possible bloodbath.
Trouble was said to have started when the People of Ezinano Community arrived at their land on hearing that members of Umuzuocha Community had started erecting buildings indiscriminately on the disputed land.
The Umuzuocha People also allegedly started raising perimeter fences, erosion channels/gutter and other structures on the land without recourse to a pending case in court and deployed the police to the area in order to perfect their action.
It was learnt that Ezinano people, on arrival there, were ordered by the SARS operatives to leave the land or be sent to their early graves, a development which prompted them to raise an alarm and call the State Police Commissioner who quickly waded into the matter and directed both sides to the dispute to leave at once.
The Ezinano People, during the stalemate protested against police invasion on their land.
Mrs. Gloria Chiama, a farmer, called on relevant authorities to call the police to order, stressing that the police did not meddle in matters of land dispute between communities and individuals but rather maintained law and order.
It will be recalled that elders and leaders of the Ezinano Community had earlier written a petition dated September 11th, 2024 to the chairman, Police Service Commission (PSC) which was copied to the Presidency, Inspector General of Police (IGP), Complaint Response Unit of the Police Force Headquarters in Abuja and the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, against a senior police officer, over alleged meddlesomeness in the same land.
