Claims by two individuals, Moses Orji, and Ogbonna Paul Arochukwu, accusing former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim of using bulldozers to destroy economic trees in their farmland in Ovumte in Amagu has been debunked.
Debunking the claim, the Amagu Development Union in Ebonyi State has also discredited the online publications sponsored by the duo.
The duo had in a press statements accused Anyim of using bulldozers to destroy economic trees in their farmland in Ovumte in Amagu.
Countering them in a signed statement on Monday, the chairman of Amagu Development Union, Livinus O.Uka; chairman of Ovumte Land Committee’, Chinedu Makwe and three other officials, the community described the allegations as false, misleading and injurious. They vowed to “take steps to address the injuries within the ambit of the law”.
Explaining the transactions on the Ovumte land, the community said the process for the demarcation of the approximately 158 hectares land for residential purposes begun in 1998, when Anyim, as then senator, developed a residence on the land approved for him and constructed an access road leading to the 15km location from the town.
They explained that in 2001, the Union set up a land use committee to look into the possibility of parcellating the Ovumte land, which was chaired by late Cosmas Ajah. The statement explained that based on the committee’s finding, the community unanimously agreed to survey and carve 1, 000 square meter plots for about 3000 families in the community at the payment of a token of N35, 000.
The officials said Moses Orji, who attended the Union’s Christmas meeting of 2019 when the land committee was directed to start work on opening up more access road to the Ovumte farmland and other meetings in the last 16 years, did not raise any objection.
The committee said it suspects that the “malicious falsehood” being spread by Mr Orji and his nephew, Arochukwu against Senator Anyim, “is borne out of age long envy/malice and desperate desire to gain attention.”
“Senator Anyim is neither a member of the land committee nor a member of the Amagu Development Union executive nor does he have any special role to play in the implementation of the village decisions.
“That the Ovumte Land Committee never and have no reason to take instructions from Senator Anyim or anyone else as their commitment had only been to implement the resolutions and decisions of Amagu Development Union,” the committee said.
A member of the community spoke anonymously that the trouble with the parcellation of the land is that poor farmers are being made to bear the financial burden.
