Eleven communities, which hosted the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), yesterday accused the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Francis Eze of plotting to manipulate the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) they sealed with the federal government on the land where the school is built.
Counsel to the communities, Chief Sam Anokam made this allegation at a news conference he addressed alongside all representatives of the host communities in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Saturday.
According to report, the host communities had said that the federal government had forcefully taken no fewer than 4,455 hectares of their land in 1982 and that since then, they had suffered untold hardship for want of farmland.
The communities, which have been calling on the federal government to release the land it forcefully acquired, comprise Avu, Obinze, Umuanunu, Ihiagwa Ancient Kingdom, Dindin Ihiagwa, Eziobodo, Eziokele, Emeabiam, Obibiezenna, Umuoma Nekede and Okolochi.
Speaking on behalf of the communities on Saturday, Anokam alleged that the vice chancellor was playing tricks with the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding by deviating from the clauses of the agreement thereby shortchanging the host communities from getting what was approved by the federal government.
He stated that part of the plot is the vice chancellor’s refusal “to sign the MoU reached in 2019 as part of the effort by the federal government to resolve the perennial impasse that had brought acrimony over the years between the host communities and FUTO.
Anokam, also a chartered estate surveyor, noted that FUTO has refused to sign her own part of the agreement. He said that they gathered that they are not happy that the federal government decided to give back certain portions of the land presently occupied by FUTO to host communities.
He also said that the federal government and a technical committee known as Ministerial Technical Committee on FUTO Land Matters with the Federal Director of Lands as Chairman, and representatives from FUTO and host communities and others as members was set up to look into the land matter .
He stated that the purpose of making the details known was to make the public aware of what is happening there.
He also said that FUTO Vice Chancellor should be held liable if there is any breakdown of law and order or if the host communities take the laws into their hands as he has been restraining host communities from taking the laws into their hands.
He also disclosed that the over 200 hectares of 300 hectares approved to be given back to host communities by FUTO have all been occupied by private developers, warning those who are buying lands on the Port Harcourt road to be careful as such parcels of land have no title deeds.
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