The people of Owo, the hometown of Enugu State governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, yesterday, staged a peaceful protest over invasion of their community.

The Nigerian Army, which carried out the invasion, also destroyed property and vowed to take over the community’s ancestral lands by force.

They lamented that the alleged acts of intimidation and misuse of security assets entrusted to them by the constitution were carried out, despite a court injunction restraining the Army from entering the large expanse of community land and called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to come to their rescue.

The protest, which has heightened tension in the area, saw the natives, many of whom were women and the aged, carrying placards with inscriptions such as: “Stop the invasion,” “Say No to Military Land Grabbing,” “President Tinubu, save us from military intimidation,” “Army, leave our land alone.”

Addressing journalists during the protest, counsel to Owo community, Barr. Igwenagu Ngene, said the invasion of the locality took place for the first time in November 2015 when the community woke up to a rude shock of military occupation, with their buildings marked, “Remove, Army land, keep off.”

He disclosed that the soldiers also mounted billboards and beacons in every nook and cranny of the community, claiming that the entire community belonged to the Nigerian Army.

Barr. Ngene said they immediately wrote to the General Officer Commanding (GOC), the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu, in the same November 2015, requesting him to withdraw the soldiers he stationed in the area.

Ngene stated that when they could not get any positive response from the 82 Division authorities, they wrote to Enugu State government and State House of Assembly, calling for their intervention in the situation, which the people of Owo described as a case of annihilation, land grab, and an invasion of a whole community that is unknown to law and unheard of.

Ngene further hinted that they also petitioned the Ministry of Lands, Enugu, which invited the Nigerian Army and Owo community, but expressed dismay that during the deliberation at the time, the Army declined to make any comment.

He claimed that instead, the Army kept on insisting that the entire community land belonged to them.

Ngene averred that when all entreaties failed, they took the case to the National Assembly, NASS, where, after a fact-finding visit and various hearings conducted by the legislators, the Army was asked to stay away from the land, as the security agency could not provide any document to back their claim of ownership.

He further told journalists that the Army stayed off after the intervention until April 2025 when they returned, prompting the community to approach the court where they got an injunction in suit number 375/2025 against the Nigerian Army at the Enugu State High Court, which issued a restraining order against the Nigerian Army, ordering them to stay off the land, pending the final determination of the suit.

Corroborating the lawyer at his palace, the traditional ruler of the community, Igwe Godwin Okeke Arum, said: “The Army has even threatened to take over my palace, locations of our community shrines, and ancestral home of the governor, who is father of the state. Can you imagine that?”

Igwe Arum alleged that the Army operatives had been molesting his subjects, and also demolishing ongoing projects as well as chasing investors away from the community.

The President-General of Owo community, Chief John Ogbu, who also spoke with journalists, called on the state and federal government to come to their rescue.

“This is a direct plea to President Bola Tinubu as the father of the nation to come to our aid. Owo is an ancient kingdom and predates even Nigeria, let alone the Nigerian Army.” (Vanguard)