Umobor Akaeze Community Petitions NASS, Insists on Implementation Of Supreme Court Judgement On Their Land
Umobor Akaeze Community of Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi state has cried to the National Assembly to ensure that the Supreme Court judgement that gave them victory over their ancestral land.
In a Petition No. 693 of 2025 to the House of Representatives on Public Petitions by Kingdom Human Rights Foundation Int’l on behalf of Umobor Akaeze village (petitioner), against Nigeria Police Force on the need to avert further total breakdown of law and order, killing of innocent citizens in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State and the Inspector General of police, (Respondent), the community wants the House of Representatives Committee come to their aid.
When the petition came up for hearing before House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions Tuesday, the Chairman, Hon. (Barr.) Kwamoti Bitrus Laori, after listening to the petitioners led by Barrister Okere Kingdom Nnamdi adjourned to June 4 for evidence of service to the respondents.
Speaking with journalists after the hearing, Barrister Okere Kingdom Nnamdi and the representatives of the people of Umobor Akaeze village in Ivo LG of Ebonyi state said the petition is on the need you know for the state government particularly the state boundary committee and the local government boundary committee to ensure that the judgment of the Supreme Court over the disputed Uke land be implemented.
They said “nobody has the authority to sit over a decision that the supreme court has taken final decision that the land belongs to the people of Uke.
Barrister Kingdom Nnamdi said the community brought the cry to their representatives in the National Assembly to say this is what is happening because the National Assembly is the people’s parliament.
they are the people we have elected to make laws and it is the Act of the National Assembly that has established the Supreme Court vis-a-vis the constitution. We are saying that the National Assembly has supervisory role, they have committee on judiciary, they have committee on public petition.
Every day they are being killed by their neighboring people because they have political heavyweights like a former Senate President and all that. Today, at the resumed sitting of the House of Representative Committee, the House of directed that summons should be extended to particularly Ebonyi State Boundary Committee and the Ivo LG Boundary Committee.
“So far over 41 people of Umobor have been killed including a pregnant woman over a land that the Supreme Court has taken final decision.
The Umobor community want this matter peacefully resolved because the people of Umobor were peace-loving people, which is why they subjected themselves to judicial proceeding from the Customary court to High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court where they were victorious in all these stages of litigation.
One of the community leaders, Chief Innocent Ibe Okore, 78 years said “I’ve been in this matter right from my forefathers. Umobor are peace-loving people. Our profession is farming; we train our children with farming. We are trying to establish a good relationship with whomever it may concern. We are not fighting. We don’t look for problem. We don’t look for anything rather than let the authority speak”.
He said this matter had been settled by the Supreme Court 30 years ago, but recently, because of influence of “the heavy weight over the other side, the ugly scenario of all these killings, including a pregnant woman” became a frequent occurrence.
According to him, they are not happy about the killings, which is why, instead of us taking arms, they decided to tread the path of peace by going from court to court and won all through and has to petition the National Assembly.
