Land Dispute: “Don’t Be Used To Illegally Dispossess Amachai Community Land,” CDHR Tells Nigeria Police, Others

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Nigeria has told Nigeria Police Force and others involved, not to be unlawfully used to dispossess Amachai Community’s Land in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State through alleged land grabbing, documents forgeries, contempt of court, among others, as the matter is fundamentally a civil dispute.

In a press statement signed by Dr. Kehinde Taiga, National President
Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Nigeria and made available to newsmen, the body said, Amachai Community comprises four families—Umuezegbe, Umuezenzuo, Umugbala, and Umurie and has, for generations, operated under a recognized traditional governance structure in which communal land is held in trust by the Diokpa, the eldest person in the four families that made up the community, in accordance with customary law adding, this violations of rule of law has not only threatened public peace, undermine judicial authority, but violates constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people.

Part of the statement reads:”The Committee for the Defence 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”.

According to body, Court proceedings arising from internal disagreements within the community dated back to 2012 as the judgments 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. He said, there was no time any court lawfully transfer the land to any external individual or corporate entity.

CDHR noted that with deep concern allegations that during committal proceedings before the High Court 4 in Asaba under Hon. Justice Azinge, a purported and allegedly forged writs of possession surfaced, unlawfully purporting to transfer the Amachai land to MALTEK RESOURCES, a company with no legal standing, interest, or party status in the dispute.

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According to the body, 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 uttering 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 said in response, the Amachai Community sought judicial protection, and Hon. Justice H. Akpotowo, sitting at the High Court justice Ibusa granted an injunction restraining all parties from entering upon, damaging, or interfering with the land pending the final determination of the case.

“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.”, part of the statement reads.

According to the body, it is disturbed by recent allegations accusing members of the Amachai Community of burning a bulldozer—claims the community has categorically denied as the viewed this allegation as false, malicious, as it is a calculated attempt to criminalize a civil land dispute already before the courts, to intimidate and silence lawful community resistance.

“The Nigeria Police Force is reminded that:
Land ownership and possession are purely civil matters, within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts;

“The Police have no constitutional authority to enforce land possession or execute civil judgments without a valid court order; under Section 4 of the Police Act and Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), arrests must be based on reasonable suspicion of a genuine criminal offence, not on speculative, malicious, or fabricated petitions”.

The body said the repeated use of police power to intimidate communities in land disputes has been consistently condemned by Nigerian courts and remains a serious violation of fundamental human rights and therefore called on the Inspector-General of Police to
immediately direct that all petitions arising from the Amachai land dispute, including the alleged bulldozer incident and be handled exclusively by the Commissioner of Police, Delta State whom the body and the community in question repose confidence for professionalism and fairness.

The body 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 just it charged the police sanction any officer found to have acted outside the law or in furtherance of land grabbing.

Part of the statement reads:”
Immediate cessation of all acts of intimidation, harassment, trespass, or force in Amachai Community;full 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”.

CDHR therefore condemned land’s grabbing, document forgery, contempt of court, and the misuse of security agencies to intimidate or dispossess communities of their ancestral lands adding that such acts are inimical to democracy, the rule of law, and social stability. The body warned land grabbers not to be allowed to provoke violence, sow division, or undermine judicial authority in Amachai Community or anywhere else in Nigeria as the organization is committed to the protection of fundamental human rights and the independence of the judiciary, preservation of peace, justice, and constitutional order across Nigeria.

End