Protests In Egbu Over High-Tension Power Line Corridor …AS Eze Egbukole; Village Chairmen; Community Officials Praised For Quelling Crisis

By Chinedu-Max Egere…

Protests carried out by the indigenes, residents, landlords and caretakers of Egbu autonomous community in Owerri North local government area, Imo state on Wednesday which were sparked by the demolitions of structures suspected to be erected under the high- tension Power line corridor were quelled and de-escalated by the traditional ruler, Eze Mitchell Egbukole with the cooperation of some community officials which include the five village chairmen, Okechukwu Kemakolam; Uche Emenyonu; Bismarck Ekeocha; Obinna Emezi; Best Uzodimma and other stakeholders, Sir Chisom Maduagwu, the Special Representative of the Eze; the Secretary- General of Egbu Town General Assembly(ETGA); Engr.Victor Iheme; Loveday Iheme, the secretary of Egbu Intelligence Unit(EIU); the chairman and secretary of Egbu Media Team, Chinedu Max Egere and Kingsley Nwawueze and others.

The protesting groups had in their numbers stormed the residence of the monarch from the various sites of the demolitions in the parts of the community.

They had carried their placards that contained their diverse messages which boiled down to seeking fair treatments and interventions from the directed authorities concerning the high tension Power line corridor.

Some of the placards had read thus ‘ Leave our ancestral homes’; We cant be fugitives’;’ IMSG please protect our land’; ‘ We are not scape goats’; ‘Gov. Uzodimma, please save our soul’; ‘We need clarification on affected lands before demolitions’; Compensations before demolitions please’ and many others.

His Royal Majesty, Eze Mitchell Egbukole had addressed the protesters calming their nerves as he sought their patience and understanding.

Eze Mitchell Egbukole

They had the reassurances of Eze Egbukole, who said he would convey their messages to the visiting officials of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and National Integrated Power Project (NIPP).

While TCN plays the role of handling the transmission lines, NIPP focuses on generating and distributing power to meet the national needs.

The requests of the protesting indigenes, residents and the land lords were made clear which include that during the year the authorities made their ‘data- capturing’ for the purpose of compensating those affected by the development,so many Egbu indigenes, seen as the original owners of the structures and spaces under the said high-tension power lines were not enlisted and therefore, were not allocated any compensatory funds.

In some cases, based on their findings, alleged impersonations were meted out during the time to the detriments of Egbu people.

They had also alerted that such pieces of land contained their ancestral homes and express fears of inevitably turning to exiles and fugitives without compensations.

Another worrisome factor disclosed by the protesters was the earlier piece of information on ground pertaining to the ’15 meters both ways” of the spaces taken which were suspected to suffer encroachments exceeding to a few more meters.

Eze Egbukole, while addressing them before the visiting officials of TCN and NIPP stressed the importance of ‘peace-talks and dialogue’ especially in such situations involving the community and government.

The monarch had insisted that escalations and insinuations would rather lead to chaos which would bring no progressive steps.

Eze Egbu said that he has gotten all their messages with a strong promise of an effective and suitable dialogue with the authorities and that the idea of reviewing the data for capturing in the physical presence of the indigenes and real land owners would be ideal so as to correct the anomalies dictated during the demolitions.

To the revered monarch, a synergy between the community and government would only create avenues for peace and development which would benefit them.

The protests were noted to be non-violent with no cases of any form of clash or interceptions.

Meanwhile, commendations and encomiums have been showered on Egbu king and the community officials for their timely interventions.

The security operatives from Owerri North Divisional Police and others were invited to be on ground for special duties for the purposes of peace and tranquility.