By Emma Nnadozie

The Umobor Village in Akaeze Community, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, on Wednesday, called on Governor Francis Nwifuru to compel Ogwor Village in Ishiagu Community to abide by the Supreme Court judgment over a longstanding land dispute in the area.

Umobor, Akaeze Community, and Ogwor, Ishiagu Community, both in the same local government area, have been involved in a land dispute dating back to 1923.

The area in contention, known as “Elueke,” is described as fertile land, and its ownership has been the subject of protracted legal battles between the two communities. Past governments of the state have been unable to resolve the issue.

Following a recent crisis that claimed about six lives, Governor Nwifuru declared the disputed land a buffer zone. He summoned stakeholders from the affected areas to his office, constituted a reconciliation committee, and gave them two weeks to make peace or risk losing the land to the government.

However, Umobor Village, in a letter to the governor through their counsel, Mike Ahamba, SAN, appealed for Ogwor Village to comply with the Supreme Court judgment of 1991.

The letter reads:

“I am addressing this letter to Your Excellency following what I may term a distress brief from the Umobor Akaeze Village leaders. May I, therefore, hereafter refer to them as ‘my clients’ where the context permits.

“I have been informed by my clients that you are aware of the inter-village conflict that flared up in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State on Monday, the 2nd day of December 2024, with, unfortunately, alarming fatalities. I am also aware that you have intervened, though peripherally.

“It is my information from my clients that there has been a lingering land dispute between Umobor Akaeze Village and Ogwor Ishiagu Village, both notable communities in Ebonyi State. This crisis concerns farmland known as and called Elueke Umobor Land. The dispute dates back to about the year 1923.

“According to my instructions, Ogwor Ishiagu people took my clients to the Native Court in that area at the time but lost to Umobor Akaeze people. Not satisfied with that decision, Ogwor Ishiagu people sued my clients again in the High Court at Abakaliki, in Suit No. AB/3/71. Once again, they lost in the judgment delivered on the 25th day of March 1974. Still not satisfied, Ogwor people (hereafter ‘Ogwor’ where the context permits) appealed to the Court of Appeal, Enugu, in Appeal No. FCA/E/201/81, and again lost in the judgment delivered on the 1st day of July 1987.

“Determined to test what they claimed to be their legal right of ownership through the entire judicial hierarchy, Ogwor further appealed to the Supreme Court of Nigeria in Supreme Court No. SC/3/1990. But their situation did not change as they also lost at the apex court in a judgment delivered on the 27th day of September 1991.

“After this loss at the apex court, Ogwor seemed to accept the settlement as final. But that was only for some time, as they started encroaching on the land once again.

“Consequent upon this revived encroachment, Umobor sued them in the High Court at Afikpo for enforcement of the judgments in Suit No. HAF/19M/93. When the matter came up before the High Court, Afikpo, on the 12th day of July 1995, before Honourable Justice L.A. Achinihu, for their committal to prison, the learned judge admonished the Ogwor defendants in open court on the consequences of not obeying a court decision.

“A representative of Ogwor people agreed in open court to warn his people to give peace a chance by respecting the final judgment of the Supreme Court. The court record is Annexure ‘C.’ Based on this commitment, counsel for the applicants, Umobor, withdrew the application for committal of the four Ogwor leaders who represented Ogwor people, and they were consequently discharged and acquitted.

“My very humble request is that you use your good offices to impress upon the security agencies in your state, and the Ivo Local Government Council, the need to ensure that Ogwor people understand the dispute has ended with the Supreme Court judgment, which they must abide by. It is difficult to understand why the police and other officials in the area cannot enforce the Supreme Court decision instead of making the sharing of the land their point of settlement. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides in Section 287(1) thus:

‘(1) The decisions of the Supreme Court shall be enforced in any part of the Federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts of subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court.’”