Stanley Uzoaru,Owerri
Ezi–Irete land owners in Irete community, Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, have given a two-week ultimatum to suspected Fulani herdsmen ravaging their land to desist from further encroachment or face the wrath of its youths.
Addressing newsmen during inspection of the land yesterday by some elders and youths of the community, Coordinator of Ezi- Irete land owners, Nnadi Okenwa warned that the community would no longer condone the activities of the herdsmen and anybody encroaching on their ancestral land.
Okenwa explained that the land, especially at the location of the Industrial Development Centre (IDC), which was leased to the state government by the community and subsequently handed over to the Federal Government by the state, housed the IDC built by the government at the centre in 1980.
But due to scarcity of land in the community and conversion of the land to den of kidnappers, the land owners decided to approach the state government to give them back part of it, which Okenwa said was granted two years ago, but now expressed surprise by the level of encroachment .