John Nwaigwe
The forum of village heads from the proposed Abia Airport host communities Wednesday declared that it will not attend a meeting of all village and compound heads convened by the Abia State Government at Government House, Umuahia on Thursday, Feb 6, 2025. They made this decision in response to an invitation from the government for a crucial meeting
The Village heads in the letter addressed to Pastor Okorougo Aji,
Special Assistant to the Governor (Lands & Housing) and Project Coordinator of Abia Airport Project, urged the government to continue its engagement with a designated technical committee, which comprises their appointed representatives, and with the mandate to deliberate on critical issues and work towards mutually acceptable solutions.
The Village Heads further explained that they had collectively agreed to establish the technical committee charged with addressing unresolved concerns, particularly regarding the size of the land being acquired and the broader socio-economic impact on the affected communities
In line with our previous agreement, the village heads and their representatives will not be attending the scheduled meeting on 6th February 2025. We strongly encourage the government to continue discussions with our technical committee, who will subsequently report back to us on the outcomes of their engagement.
In the letter signed respectively by Engr. Ikechukwu Uche and Gabriel Echezolam as Chairman of Chairmen and Secretary the Village Heads affirmed that
“Our people remain committed to constructive engagement and meaningful dialogue with the government to address all outstanding issues and reaffirm our willingness to explore avenues that lead to a fair and just resolution for all parties involved
“Once substantial progress has been achieved, an expanded meeting, including village and compound heads, as well as youth and women representatives, will be convened to review and formalise any agreements reached”
They further stated that the resolutions were reached at an expanded meeting which was attended by key stakeholders, including representatives of the Abia State Government, landowners, the State Director of the Department of State Services, and the Commissioner of Police which held on Jan. 3, 2025 at Umuezeukwu and adopted at another meeting the next day.
Speaking to newsmen, the Chairman of the Village Heads and Land Owners, Engr. Ikechukwu Uche said,
” We are being blackmailed by Abia State Government Team, as they keep sending wrong signal to the Governor, and Abians, insinuating we are opposed to the project but that is not the true position. We are concerned with knowing the actual size of the project, to see the map, so we can engage our own private surveyor to determine if what they told us will be the same on the ground. We are also asking for the unbundling of the project. The Airport project we know and have accepted but that of Airport Housing Estate, five star hotel, hospital, schools are shrouded in secrecy by the state government and we have been asking, who are the owners of these other projects – Federal Government, Abia state government or private investors. We cannot give land for the Airport and still accomodation those other projects without knowing the owners”, he said.
On his part, the Secretary of the Forum, Gabriel Ukaumunna Echezolam said, inviting them to a meeting, when they are going behind to plan enumeration without any memorandum of understanding with the technical team is suspicious. He said, the don’t want a situation where they may be coaxed into signing any document they may not fully understand the contents and pointed the case of Abia pensioners, that have been having running battles with the state over documents they signed and later claimed they don’t know the contents, ” We have carefully selected our technical team, let them deal with the team, we can only engage the state government after they tie all losed ends and we will then fully join them for the enumeration, he concluded”.
