Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Concerned members of Udung Uko Local Area in Akwa Ibom State have condemned the destruction of graveyards, sacred sites and farmlands in their community by a road construction firm.
Members of the council, who engaged the media in Kano, under the aegis of Eyibia Edikor Citizens for Justice, regretted that an ongoing road construction in their area had defiled their collective essence as a community.
The National President the group, Comrade John Otoboso, who addressed the press on Friday held that,” houses located along the construction routes have suffered various degrees of crack; walls have collapsed leading to the exposure of private residential buildings to security threat.
“In the village, due to excavation by the construction company, graves are defiled, culminating into unearthing of the decomposed remains of the dead,” John said.
He lamented that the good intentions of the state government were being sabotaged by the construction company, which had not been able to make compensatory payments to the owners of the land.
The president said that they were disturbed also by the company’s disrespect for the cultural and economic heritage of their people in the handling of the project in that part of the state.
He appealed to the state and Federal governments to wade into the matter to salvage the situation from degenerating and make efforts to get the affected company to negotiate with the community as previous efforts had proved abortive.
“The village head of Eyibia Edikor has deployed all the required legal process with the intent of solving these problems in the community but earlier the concerned agencies act on this matter the better because a stitch in time saves nine.”