Ebonyi State indigenes under the auspices of Human Rights Defenders of Nigeria (HURIDE), state chapter, has threatened legal action against the State government over the illegal demolition of homes in Ezza North LGA of the state for the Airport project without exhausting all due processes.
Security personnel last week led bulldozers to demolish some houses, allegedly on the instruction of the state government for the purpose of the Airport project.
Reacting to the recent development in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja after its executive meeting, the group blasted the state government over such forceful and unlawful action.
The state chapter chairman of the rights group, Comrade Sampson Oko Nweke, assured the victims of the demolition of getting justice through the court of law.
He recalled that the state government had recently tipped for bulldozing, some communities in Ezza North LGA as his preferred area for Airport construction without due consultation and compensation.
The group maintained that though it is not against the Airport project by the state government or the location of the project, “it is however against the unlawful, inconsiderate and delinquent processes of acquiring the lands (people’s villages) for that purpose.”
Nweke regretted the hurriedness of the government to displace, dislodge and dislocate the poor Ezza people and render them homeless; querying why the governor tends to be disregarding and ignoring the court of law before where the matter between the embattled people and the state government is still pending.
“How can the government just rise in utter disrespect to court proceedings, invade people’s ancestral homes with heavily armed security men and start destroying and demolishing their houses, farmlands, economic trees, churches, and shrines without due consolations, fair compensations or alternative settlements.
“For crying out loud, this is a ruthless strategy, an inhumane treatment, a vindictive approach and a total show of disrespect for the rights of the common people. A development stride should be a source of succor and comfort and shouldn’t mean to inflict pains, agony and sorrow.
“This recent action of the state government is totally condemnable, utterly reprehensible and worrisomely shameful and must be seen and regarde as such,” Oko Nweke lamented in the statement.
Speaking further, the group expressed worries over the precarious condition of the displaced people of Ezza North, announcing that they “now wallow like rodents with no roof over their heads.
“The group is ready to explore all available avenues within the known boundaries of the law, to ensure the situation are timely remedied and damages adequately recompensed,” the statement read. The Sun
