By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – THE people of Ekoken in the Uhunmwonde local government area of Edo State have exonerated Elder Peter Ogbeide (JP) from an allegation of land grabbing levelled against him by their neighbour Iguosagie describing him as a philanthropist that has brought investors to their community.

They said the land in question duly belonged to them as the conventional courts and the palace of the Oba of the Oba of Benin have adjudicated on the matter confirming them as the true owners.

They said they have partnered with Ogbeide who is a holder of the Benin Achievers award and frowned at attempts to scare the investors away.

Addressing a joint press conference in Benin City, the elders of Ekoken through the Okaighele, Billy Ugiagbe said the palace confirmed them as the owners of the land through the Secretary of the Benin Traditional Council (BTC), Frank Irabor in a letter marked BTC, A40/VOL.LVI/56 and dated June 14, 2018, to the chairman of Private Property Protection and this he said was reaffirmed by the state’s boundary committee headed by the deputy governor who in a letter dated September 13th 2018 ruled in favour of Ekoken community urged the leaders to comply with the decision of the palace.

Ugiagbe also said that the Iguosagie community lost a lawsuit marked B/451/2019 filed at the Edo State High Court with the judgment given by Justice V. Eborieme and also lost the Appeal marked CA/B/77m/2021 at the Benin Division of the Court of Appeal.

On his part, Elder Ogbeide said he had attracted development and investment to the area through the formation of the Otu-Oyotor during the reign of Oba Erediauwa and that with the support of Sen Daisy Danjuma, “we collaborated with the Nigerian Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Agric Bank, NDDC and Small and Medium Scale Industry (SMEDAN).

“Otu-Oyotor successfully secured an agricultural loan for approximately 4,000 farmers in Edo South and cleared extensive areas such as Orior/Ekoken, Amagba and other areas. The initiative financially empowered over 100 Owuesi farmers.

“When the Oba saw my contributions to the welfare of Benin people, he rewarded me with an award, Benin Achiever.

“I negotiated for the land with the aim of industrialisation. The aim was to attract industries. Today, investors are here, and all of a sudden, some strange people appear and claim to be the landlord. As far as I am concerned, the only landlord that I am aware of is Ekoken. I am not answerable to any other community.”

He appealed to them to refrain from attracting any distractions to avoid driving away these investors and that all the communities around Ekoken should understand that they are catchment areas, and the benefits of industrialisation will trickle down to everyone