By SIMON EBEGBULEM
THERE is tension in Oghede community, in Ovia North East Local Government Council of Edo State, after men of the Nigerian Army attached to the 322 Artillery Regiment, Ekenhua Barrack, allegedly demolished houses and farm produce belonging to members of the community in a disputed land.

Consequently, the community has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan and the Oba of Benin, accusing the army of forceful acquisition of the community’s land even after the community allowed the barrack to be sited in their land in 1964.

The Enogie (community head) of Oghede, His Royal Highness Osadebamwen Aghahowa, who spoke with Vanguard yesterday after touring the destroyed areas with newsmen, recalled that the then Oba of Benin, Oba Akenzua II, informed “our fathers in 1964 that the Federal Government needed some parcel of land for Army settlement, that the measurement would be 408.04 acres and that through the army we would gain electricity, pipe-borne water, good roads and hospital.”

He said that because of the beautiful offers, his grandfather, decided to give out the land to the Federal Government.

He expressed surprise that in 2006, “the Ekehuan Army Barrack massively encroached into our farms and building plots and started chasing people out with arms. Our women and daughters were striped naked. We have complained to several places but no body seems to listen to us and the state government during the administration of Governor Lucky Igbinedion has investigated this matter and found the army guilty.

“Yet they have refused to give us peace. Is it a crime now for my grand father to allow them build their barrack in our land? All we do in this community is farming”