Elders of Obokwu, Obinze in the Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, on Saturday, protested in Uzoegbelu, Obokwu, warning the management of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri to desist from encroaching into their ancestral land.

It will be recalled that the demonstration over the same land was the third instance since last Monday.

Newsmen gathered that the first demonstration was held in front of the Senate Building of the university, while the second, led by youths of the other six host communities of the university, took place at the Aroche site of the land.

The protesters, who were seen chanting war songs, carried different placards demanding that the university management desist from encroaching into their ancestral land.

Some of the placards read, “Sam Anokam is our attorney, we are dealing with the Federal Government,” “Ogolo, what is your own?” “Emma Duru, who are you working for: The government or your own interest?” “Mayor of Ihiagwa, our land will favour you, Sunny Anyanwu,” and “Ogolo, Emma Duru, Mayor of Ihiagwa, Surv. Stanley and other unscrupulous elements in the government of Imo, steer clear from Obokwu land.”

One of the Obokwu elders, Mr Sydney Igwe, lamented that FUTO forcefully encroached into their land without compensation, adding that the university did not give the community slots when they were recruiting staff members.

He said, “There is a way to handle serious issues like this. The FUTO management should have called us to a roundtable to discuss the terms. They came into our ancestral land and forcefully occupied it. Since they don’t want dialogue between the parties, we are peacefully demonstrating to warn and tell them to leave our land alone.”

Mr Victor Ihezue, also from Obokwu, stated that besides Chief Sam Anokam, anyone claiming to be an attorney to the land was in the struggle for their selfish interest.

He disclosed that a memorandum of understanding between FUTO and the host communities had not been fulfilled by the university, adding that the Federal Government only paid compensation for the economic fees at the time it was establishing the university.

The Obokwu Youth Chairman, Mr Wilson Ekeugbo, stated that the land was for the settlement of the young generation.

The Obokwu Community Chairman, Mr Chukwudi Emegha, who read out a section of the MoU between Obinze and FUTO, said on the basis of give-and-take by the parties, FUTO had failed to return hectares of land along the Owerri-Port Harcourt road axis to the host communities in lieu of compensation.