A 110-year land feud in Nkwelle Ezunaka, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State has claimed three lives and destroyed several property.
The three persons were said to have lost their lives on Saturday in a communal clash between Nkwelle Ezunaka and their Osile neighbours over the disputed land.
The communities had engaged each other in a battle last week, leading to the death of the three men, who were said to be indigenes of Nkwelle Ezunaka community.
Several persons were also reportedly injured as a result of the clash. Security operatives had been drafted to the communities.
Our correspondent gathered that last week’s clash was caused by the quest by one of the feuding communities to survey the land.
The immediate-past President of Nkwelle Ezunaka Community and the President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Anambra State chapter, Elder Chris Eluemuno, who spoke to journalists during a visit to the area, said the fracas between both communities had been recurring.
He said the communities had been at loggerheads for a long time as a result of the dispute.
Eluomunoh said, “The land dispute dates as far back as 1906 when an Onitsha Customary Court entered a judgment in favour of Nkwelle Ezunaka community, that Nkisi River was the boundary between Ogbunike and Nkwelle Ezunaka communities.
When contacted, the President-General of Osile Welfare and Development Union, Donatus Mbanefo, said there was no such judgment, and that the Umuonuora family of Amuche Nkwelle had never been in any land dispute in any court of law with their counterparts.
He said, “The Umuonuora family, led by Chris Eluemuno, and lately Ambrose Odia, had not only trespassed on these land but had sold off all of the Osile land lying north of the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway to non-indigenes of Nkwelle Ezunaka.”
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