Land speculators along the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe Road have been evicted by the Edo State Government to make way for the construction of a new town project. The announcement was made in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Osa Nehikhare and made available to The Standard Gazette on Thursday, 29th September, 2022.
The 1229 hectares of land along the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe Road are the affected region.
The site was purchased in 2017 for the new town project, but land speculators had already encroached on it. At the time of the acquisition, the repossessed land was the Ogba Forest Reserve.
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In order to restore sanity to the state’s land administration, Governor Godwin Obaseki is reiterating his campaign against land grabbing. The repossession exercise is a part of this campaign.
You may remember that the Obazagbon-Ogheghe axis of the Irhirhi-Obazagbon-Ogheghe Road was subject to a curfew for 24 hours beginning at 12 a.m. on September 29 and lasting until 12 a.m. on September 30, 2022, to allow for this exercise.
Government representatives and the full complement of security forces arrived at the operation in the communities on Thursday at around three in the morning. No one was hurt during the seizure of the location. The workout is proceeding without incident.
The government has taken over all the buildings within the Ogba River Forest Reserve and is removing all buildings, except for those it may use as offices. We thank all security agencies, members of the affected communities, the general public and the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) involved with the exercise for their cooperation.
For the records, the land was acquired in July 2017 was duly gazetted. The government had tried severally to engage the four communities involved but they have always rebuffed the government. The hostilities and widespread encroachment have made it difficult to enumerate and commence compensation assessments.
After the property has been repossessed, enumeration will begin, and the legitimate residents who had been living there before the acquisitions will be paid.
There are currently 106 structures designated, of which 24 will not be demolished. The perimeter of the site is being trenched while the others are being destroyed.
As the days pass, we will keep giving you updates on this continuing operation.
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