CDHR Urges IG To Stop Police Involvement in Land Dispute

Sylvester Idowu in Warri

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Nigeria, has called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to immediately halt police involvement in the protracted land dispute affecting Amachai Community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.

It said the matter was a civil dispute before the courts.

CDHR through its National President, Dr. Kehinde Taiga, in a statement issued in Warri yesterday urged the IG to ensure that the Nigeria Police Force is not “illegally used to dispossess Amachai Community of its ancestral land through land grabbing, document forgery and contempt of court.

“The Nigeria Police Force must not allow itself to be drawn into enforcing land possession or aiding any party in a civil dispute pending before courts of competent jurisdiction,” it said.

CDHR requested the IG to direct that petitions and complaints arising from the Amachai land dispute, including recent allegations of a bulldozer being burnt, be handled exclusively by the Commissioner of Police, Delta State, whom the organisation said it trusted for professionalism and fairness.

The rights group warned that attempts to criminalise the dispute amount to an abuse of police powers and a violation of constitutionally-guaranteed rights.

The group warned that land grabbers should not be allowed to provoke violence, sow division, or undermine judicial authority in Amachai Community or anywhere else in Nigeria noting that CDHR is committed to the protection of fundamental human rights and the independence of the judiciary, preservation of peace, justice and constitutional order across the country.

The rights group maintained that Amachai Community comprises four families, Umuezegbe, Umuezenzuo, Umugbala and Umurie and has, for generations, operated under a recognised traditional governance structure in which communal land is held in trust by the Diokpa, the oldest person in the four families that made up the community, in accordance with customary law.

It stated that violations of this rule of law in the community has not only threatened public peace, undermined judicial authority, but violates constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people.

“The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Nigeria, expresses grave concern over the escalating tension and persistent violations of the rule of law arising from the protracted land dispute involving the Amachai Community of Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, which is presently pending before courts of competent jurisdictions in Delta State.

“Court proceedings arising from internal disagreements within the community dated back to 2012 as the judgements delivered by Justice M. C. Okoh then at Akwukwu-Igbo High Court of Justice in the matter did not vest ownership or possession of the land in any faction referred as Amachai Group A or B but rather affirmed custodianship to the Diokpa, in line with established custom and governance structure. There was no time any court lawfully transferred the land to any external individual or corporate entity,” it stated.

According to CDHR, this mentioned writs of possession was obtained from another court without recourse to High Court of Justice Akwukwu-Igbo that delivered the substantive judgement adding that, the alleged act constitutes forgery and altering of forged documents, criminal offences under Nigerian law; gross abuse of court process; and contempt of court, particularly where such documents are used to undermine subsisting proceedings.

“CDHR unequivocally condemns reported attempts to enforce possession in defiance of this subsisting court order, allegedly with the presence and support of police and military personnel. Such actions, if established, amount to contempt of court and a direct assault on the independence of the judiciary,” it stated.

The group also called on the police not to arrest, detain or harass  any community member on the basis of unsubstantiated or malicious allegations connected to land ownership but ensure strict compliance by all officers with subsisting court orders and injunctions, adding, “We also charge the police to sanction any officer found to have acted outside the law or in furtherance of land grabbing.

“We call for immediate cessation of all acts of intimidation, harassment, trespass, or force in Amachai Community, respect and enforcement of all subsisting court orders and injunctions, objective, professional, and impartial investigation of any genuine criminal complaints, if any exist, total withdrawal of police and military personnel from land possession activities, Good-faith dialogue and reconciliation led by community elders and relevant stakeholders,” it added.