Abia Airport: Nsulu Host Communities Reject Enumeration Exercise, Insist On Knowing Actual Size Of Land

The dispute between the Abia State government and the people of Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government Area over the acquisition of the proposed land for the Abia Airport Project has persisted, despite multifaceted approaches to finding common ground.

Remember that the family heads and village heads of the affected communities had taken the state government to court, where a stay of execution order was granted and representatives from the government and the people of Nsulu were asked to continue peaceful negotiations.

In a recent letter signed by the chairman of the family and village heads of the land owners, Engineer Ikechukwu Uche, and the secretary, Gabriel Ukaumunna Echezolam, which was sighted by our correspondent, the people decried what they described as “continuous violation of all the laid down rules of engagement on land acquisition by the Abia state government.”

The letter reads in part, “We, Nsulu Village Heads and Land Owners of Host Communities for the proposed Abia Airport Project, wish to draw the general public’s attention to the Abia state government’s continuous violation of all the laid down rules of engagement on land acquisition.”

“The government team has resorted to ” weaponising hunger ” by boycotting our mandated technical team while engaging with none land owners and political jobbers, thus, began enumeration, without being open and sincere on the actual land size as we demanded before enumeration.”

They urged their people to avoid any government enumeration, and they urged the Abia State Government to halt the enumeration process immediately until they could officially present the true size of the land they wanted to acquire for the project.

“We therefore ask our people not to come out for any enumeration while insisting that the Abia state government team halt the exercise immediately until they officially present the actual size of the land they want to acquire for the project.

We once again urge the Abia state government to continue discussions with our technical committee because we remain committed to genuine and peaceful engagement.”