BY Tony Edike

ENUGU—An Enugu High Court, yesterday, restrained the executive of Amankwo Eke Town Union from selling to an industrialist 20 acres of land belonging to Amankwo Eke in Udi Local Government Area of the state.

Ruling on the case brought before it by a woman political activist, Chief Loretta Aniagolu who sought, among other things, a declaration by the court that the executive of the Town Union had no legal right or authority to sell the 20 acres of communal land without carrying along all the stakeholders, including women of the community.

Chief Aniagolu also sought a declaration by the court that, just like men, women in Amankwo Eke should have right to partake in the distribution of communal land and, therefore, ought to be duly consulted before any sale of the land.

She further asked the court to declare null and void the deed of conveyance given to the industrialist who bought the land in question.
Justice Afam Nwobodo, after reviewing the submissions of both parties in the case, affirmed that the land was a communal land which the town union constitution stated belonged to every member of the community regardless of sex.

He granted Aniagolu’s prayers and struck out the counter-claims made by the defendants.
“The constitution of the town union was specific that it is the Land Committee’s responsibility to allocate land and not the executive of the town union,” Justice Nwobodo said.

He maintained that the constitution of the town union provided that a 14-member land committee should be responsible for allocating land, emphasising that it was wrong of two persons only, who had nothing to do with the document to have signed it.
The argument of the defendants that Aniagolu had no locus standi to file a suit on the land matter for reasons that she was a woman married to somebody outside Eke did not hold water, according to Justice Nwobodo.

He ruled that since she was a bonafide indigene of the community, and the land belonged to all the people, irrespective of sex, the plaintiff had the right to sue.
Justice Nwobodo, however, did not award any financial compensation to Aniagolu since land matter “is more or less a family affair.”
The defendants, however, indicated their intention to challenge the ruling at the Appeal Court.