By Festus Ahon

ASABA—As the crisis brewing between Oshimili South Local Government Area, Delta State and the National Automobile and Technical Association, NATA, over revenue collection lingers, Onaje family of Umujiaga in the Asaba metropolis, has claimed ownership of the mechanic village.

Chairman of Onoja Family Land Committee, Chief Nwabueze Enenmoh, said the family gave the land to the local government during the military era in the early 80s to be used as mechanic village for free.

Insisting that the donation did not make the land a property of Oshimili South council, Enenmoh frowned at the decision of the council to use part of the land as trailer park.

He said: “In 1983, the land was given to them for the use of mechanics. We did it for the development of this town and not for the use of the council.”

Explaining the issues surrounding the land, he brought out a map bearing the pattern in which the land was shared among the children of Onaje, showing clearly where the mechanic village belonged in the map, noting that the land was the property of the Umujiaga family and not the council.

Nwabueze, with other members of the Umujiaga family, said: “We are the owners of the land, we did not give the land for any other purpose but for the mechanics to use in 1983.”

Meanwhile, Chairman of the council, Mr Chuks John Obusom, had insisted that the land in dispute belongs to the council with graphic evidence showing how the land was ceded to the council in the early ’80s.