Alleged land grab: ECOWAS Court to hear Edo agrarian communities’ case against Governor Obaseki

The Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) Court in Abuja has fixed July 9, 2024, as the date for hearing a lawsuit filed by hundreds of Edo agrarian communities against the Edo State government and its governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, for alleged appropriation and destruction of their aboriginal forest reserves, farmlands and crops.

This was contained in the notice of hearing issued by the Sub-Regional Court, following a case brought by the Okpamakhin Community Initiative (OCI), an NGO, which is the plaintiff.

Represents local communities and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), which also represents the Edo State Government in the reference file: ECW/CCJ/APP/22/22, which also borders on deforestation, loss of livelihoods and dispossession of local communities.

Amidst heavy protests across the state by local communities and civil society, the OCI and the communities filed a case against the state government in May 2022 through the assistance of renowned lawyer, President Aigbokhan.

Disturbed that Governor Obaseki has continued with the forced acquisition and demolition of the said land, despite the judicial process, the OCI and the communities received a response from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice, on behalf of the FGN (REF: dated 16th September 2022. Signed by Maimuna Lami Shiru (Mrs), Ag. Director Civil Litigation & Public Law Department, Federal Ministry of Justice, stating that their petition has been forwarded to the Attorney General of the State and the Commissioner of Justice, for comments and further action.

Also about a month ago, the OCI boss and the Coalition Against Land Grabbing and Deforestation (CALD), a body representing the many local communities spread across over 10 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state, allegedly victims of land grabbing, again reacted to a press release issued by Governor Obaseki that the state government was again acquiring over 47,000 hectares of the last vestiges of rainforest with diverse wildlife species and community farmland to private investors, for single-crop pam oil plantation.

The head of Okpamakhin Community Initiative (OCI), Comrade Tony Erha and Chief Reuben Aizenabor, CALD Community Relations Coordinator, had through a widely circulated press release urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and relevant authorities to immediately investigate and prosecute the governor and his affairs over these matters, particularly the N69 billion and other funding from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), invested in the oil palm project in the state, then led by Governor Obaseki and Mr. Godwin Emefiele, former CBN governor, where local oil palm farmers and recipients of funding were sidelined, with the matter long since reported to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for investigation and deterrence.

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