The people of Umuenu Quarters in Umuawulu Community, Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State, have petitioned the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Tobechukwu Nweke, SAN, over an alleged attempt by land invaders to dispossess them of their ancestral land, homes and farmlands.
The community, in the petition, called for urgent government intervention to halt what it described as persistent harassment and encroachment on its ancestral land by alleged land grabbers from neighbouring Enugwu Quarters, also in Umuawulu.
The petition was filed on behalf of the community by their counsel, Hyacinth Moghalu, a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, Anambra State Branch. It was delivered to the Attorney-General’s office on July 6, 2026, while a copy was made available to journalists in Awka on Tuesday.
The community also appealed to the Attorney-General to release the case file relating to the criminal proceedings arising from the dispute, saying this would allow the matter already before the court to proceed to a logical conclusion.
The case, identified as Charge No. A/81C/2024: The State vs. Ifeanyichukwu Nwogbo & 7 Others, is pending before High Court No. 1 of the Anambra State High Court, Awka Judicial Division.
The petitioners urged the Attorney-General to consider the facts presented by the complainants before reaching any legal conclusion on the review of the case file.
According to the petition, the complainants—Daniel Ezeh, Ebenezer Eze, Peter Adibe and the late Humphrey Obi—are indigenes of Umuenu community and claimed ownership and possession of a large expanse of land known as Agu Ofu, situated in Umuenu, Umuawulu.
The petitioners traced the dispute over the land to 1928, alleging that members of Abo Ani community in Awgbu, Orumba North Local Government Area, had trespassed on the land and claimed ownership.
They said members of Umuenu subsequently instituted a suit, Suit No. 65/28, before the Mbalinofu Native Court sitting in Awka, and obtained judgment in their favour.
The petitioners further stated that the losing party appealed to the District Officer, who dismissed the appeal and upheld the judgment of the native court.
They alleged that in 2020, members of Enugwu village, Umuawulu, allegedly invaded the same land, leading to a fresh dispute.
According to them, the alleged invasion involved the seizure of farming implements belonging to members of Umuenu and their hired workers, as well as the uprooting of yam seedlings.
The community said the matter was subsequently reported to the traditional ruler of Umuawulu, who constituted a five-man committee to determine the ownership of the disputed land.
The committee, according to the petition, heard evidence from both sides before ruling that the land belonged to Umuenu community.
The petitioners alleged that despite the earlier judgment and subsequent community findings, members of Enugwu village, allegedly led by the eight defendants in the criminal case, invaded the disputed land on June 19, 2024, while members of Umuenu were farming.
They alleged that the attackers were armed with dangerous weapons and inflicted various degrees of injuries on the complainants.
The petitioners said the suspects were arrested following a report to the police and were eventually charged to court despite alleged efforts to frustrate the prosecution.
They also alleged that one of the complainants, the late Humphrey Obi, sustained serious injuries, including machete wounds, during the incident and subsequently died from complications arising from the injuries.
The petitioners said the injuries sustained by Obi formed the basis of one of the counts in the charge before the court.
They further alleged that after the defendants were charged to court, there were attempts to stop the prosecution through government intervention.
According to the petition, the former Attorney-General subsequently recalled the case file for review after the matter had been brought to her attention.
The petitioners said that while the former Attorney-General was reviewing the case, the Umuawulu Progress Union constituted a mediation panel, headed by legal practitioner Chief Azubuike Anazor, to resolve the underlying land dispute.
They stated that the mediation panel heard the parties and eventually found that the disputed land belonged to Umuenu community, while urging the Enugwu people to desist from further trespass.
The petitioners said the former Attorney-General, after receiving the mediation panel’s report and following the refusal of the defendants to accept its findings, approved the continuation of the prosecution and issued a fiat to H.N.C. Ogbalu, Esq., to prosecute the case on behalf of the state.
The community said the present review of the case file by the Attorney-General’s office amounted to the second recall of the file for review.
They therefore urged the Attorney-General to take into consideration what they described as the “true facts” of the dispute before reaching a decision on the case.
The petitioners said their intention was to ensure that the Attorney-General had access to the full circumstances surrounding the matter and could arrive at a proper legal conclusion.
The Umuenu people, alongside Esther Obi, widow of the late Humphrey Obi, appealed to the Attorney-General to release the case file and allow the criminal proceedings to continue, insisting that justice must be served.
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