The Senator representing Abia South Senatorial district at the Senate, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe is on war path with the Catholic Church in Abia state over a land said to be over 40 hectares at Ohuru community in Obingwa Local Government Area.
The land situated at Egbelu Umuadile, owned by Abaribe’s Umuadile village in Ohuru , was acquired by the Catholic Church, through late Bishop Anthony Nwedo of Umuahia Diocese in 1977 and handed over to Aba Diocese when it got a diocesan status.
The Church had developed many structures on the land including offices and a school. However, in 2020, about 43 years after the Church acquired the land, the senator started laying claim to the land. But the St. Jude Catholic Parish in Ohuru, resisted him and reported the matter to the Aba Catholic Diocese, where the presiding Bishop, Augustine Echema, was said to have vowed that he would not live to see the property of the church taken away during his tenure.
On April 1st, 2020, the Senate Minority leader petitioned the immediate past Abia state Commissioner of Police, Ene Etim Okon, alleging that his kinsmen, John Nwaogu and Kennedy Nwaomu, who are members of the St. Jude Parish, Ohuru , trespassed into the said land and destroyed his economic crops and buildings. The two parishioners were later detained for three days and granted bail at the Ohuru Isimiri Police Division.
The Parish priest of St. Jude, John Nwaogu and Kennedy Nwaomu and other catholic faithful in the community were constantly harassed over the land by the Divisional Police Officer, Ohuru Isimiri, SP Saleh Musa, who allegedly took a personal interest in the matter.
On April 27th, 2020, Nwaogu and Nwaomu were arraigned in an Mgboko Magistrate Court on a seven count charge of malicious damage and removal of beacons as well as “unlawfully damage some economic trees uch as palm trees valued at N250, 000 property of Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 451 of the criminal code cap 80 Vol iii Laws of Abia state of Nigeria 2005.”
An arraignment notice had earlier slated the sitting of the court to be at Mgboko , the headquarters of Obingwa LGA. However, in a curious twist, the Court later sat with four magistrates at the Ohuru Isimiri Police station. The defendants took their plea and were granted bail on liberal terms by the Magistrate, Mrs Linda Okoro, who adjourned the matter to June 10, 2020.
Some legal lawyers who stormed the Magistrate court which sat the Police station queried why the court would sit over such matters during the ongoing lockdown on covid-19 when it was not an emergency case. They accused Abaribe of desperation in his bid to take the land away from the Church.
A member of the Umadile family, who did not want his name to be mentioned, said, “The land belongs to the kindred. Our ancestors leased it to the Catholic Church through Bishop Anthony Nwedo and the Church developed structures on it. Our late traditional ruler, Eze Josiah Evoh , a recipient of the Member of the Order of British Empire, Timothy Nwaogu, Abraham Emerole, Samuel Nnakwu Nwachukwu, were part of those who leased the land to the Catholic church on behalf of the family.
“Now, Senator Abaribe’s father died in 2000 and he never laid claim to this land. In Umuadile family, such decisions are only taken by the elders, but that is not the case here as Senator Abaribe is going against our tradition. The senator claims to have bought the land but the question is that this land is not for sale. The elders of Umuadile family have also written to the senator asking him to hands off. We are shocked that Senator Abaribe could go to the extent of arresting and detaining his kinsmen who are members of the Catholic Church over a land leased to the church by his ancestors. It is a shame and we are not happy about it.”
According to a parishioner at St. Jude Catholic Church who is a native of Ohuru Community, “Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is our brother, but he can’t win this war. It is not possible. The Umuadile family gave out the land to the church and it was documented. Senator Abaribe has always lived in the community, except during the time he went to the university. This is the 43rd year of the acquisition of the land by the Catholic Church, why did Senator Abaribe never protested over this land until now? There is no doubt that he knows the history of this land, but wants to peddle his influence to intimidate his kinsmen and take the land away from the church. No member of the family including Abaribe’s father and uncles who have passed on, ever questioned the decision of the elders who gave out the land. He has used his powers to detain his kinsmen, we will see where it will end because the Catholic Church isn’t prepared to allow him take the land.”
Attempts to get Senator Abaribe’s reaction on the matter, was unsuccessful as he ignored messages and calls placed on his mobile number.