Umuire community in Orlu LGA of Imo State has accused the state government of secretly allocating their ancestral land to Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Orlu Diocese, in violation of the initial purpose of using the said land for Imo State Polytechnic.
In a statement made available to journalists, jointly signed by the chairman, Umuire Progressive Union, UPU, Pastor Paul Duruokpo and the secretary, Asuzu Osita, the community lamented that their ancestral land which was taken away from them for the purpose of building Imo State Polytechnic campus have turned out to be a deceit as the said premises is now occupied by the Catholic Church Diocese of Orlu.
Parts of the statement read: “We were informed that the premises of Imo State Polytechnic Orlu campus which the state government took from us without any compensation for the purpose of public interest.
“To our greatest surprise, that said land without prior notice to us was handed overnight to Holy Trinity Catholic Church Orlu without our consent, which was done in secret, thanks to the video circulating online that exposed the whole process.”
The representatives of the community hinted that their forefathers never at any time sold or gave any part of the land to the church or to the Irish missionaries.
“IIt is disheartening and unlawful for the church to lay any claim to the said land without our consent and any agreement reached with us.
“It is therefore worthy to return our land to us which we hereby pray the State Government to do so.
“Based on the foregoing, we pray you to kindly and graciously return our land to us
If the Imo State Government is no longer interested in making use of it for the interest of the public.”
Reacting to the development,
the Catholic Diocese of Orlu has denied claims that it intends to use the Imo State Polytechnic campus in Orlu as its pastoral centre.
The spokesperson of the Diocese, Sir Jude Ayanugo in a statement described the claims as misleading and mischievous.
He pointed out that the Catholic Archdiocese of Orlu has never conceived nor planned converting the campus for any church establishment.
Ayanugo explained that the land currently occupied by the Orlu campus was donated to the Catholic Church mission by the Orlu community in 1947 for educational purposes, a claim which the community refuted.