Crisis brews in Enugu community over alleged obstruction of implementation of court judgment

By Chinedu Adonu

Crisis is brewing in Akpugo community, Nkanu West Local Government Area of Enugu State, following an allegation by the Umuedenwoko family and Cooperative Worldwide that their traditional ruler and some unnamed government officials are frustrating the execution of a subsisting court judgment in their favour.

Speaking to journalists,

counsel to the community, Gabriel Oforma Agbo, said his clients had battled for over 13 years to secure justice over the 299-hectare farmland known as Ngene-Ogbugbo.

He explained that the Umuedenwoko Cooperative lawfully acquired the land since 1978 under a customary right of occupancy and had developed it with palm plantations, economic trees, and other agricultural projects.

“This land was properly acquired from the old Anambra State, issued with customary right of occupancy, equivalent to having a Certificate of Occupancy. They have paid ground rent since 1978 and invested heavily on the land,” Agbo explained.

He said the conflict deepened after the creation of the Ugwuafor autonomous community the traditional ruler began laying claim to the ownership of lands belonging to several villages.

“The monarch decided to claim that because he is the traditional ruler of the community, he automatically became the owner of all lands belonging to these villages. In law and in fact, that is wrong,” the lawyer stated.

The lawyer alleged that the traditional ruler also facilitated the allocation of about 35 hectares of the disputed land to the Nigerian Police Force for a proposed Police College, without proper compensation as required under the Land Use Act.

“We are not saying government cannot take land. But here is a land already developed by local corporators who should be encouraged. Instead of compensating them, the Igwe moved in with machines, destroyed economic trees.”

According to him, after 13 years of litigation, Justice A.O. Anidi delivered judgment in June 2023 in favour of the Umuedenwoko family. No appeal was filed against the decision by any of the major parties, including the Inspector General of Police, the Commissioner of Police, or the Divisional Police Officers.

To press home their case, the community written an open letter to the Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, wherein they accused their monarch of “sponsoring communal conflicts, misleading government agencies and manipulating political institutions” to deny them possession of their land.

The letter, dated 4 November 2025, stated that the traditional ruler had approached the Enugu State House of Assembly to set up a panel of inquiry into a judgment that had already been delivered by a competent court.

“Our clients wonder why your government fails to consider the scandalous attitudes of the said traditional ruler whose actions would ordinarily be considered sacrilegious,” the letter signed by their lawyer read.

They urged Governor Mbah to constitute a judicial panel to investigate what they described as the “multiplicity of judgments” and the involvement of government officials in alleged undermining the courts.

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