Anambra Community Residents Raise Alarm Over Alleged TCN Plan to Demolish Ancestral Homes

By Praise Chinecherem

Tension has gripped Ebenesi Community in Nnobi, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, as residents took to the streets to protest the proposed demolition of their ancestral homes to make way for a Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) power line project.

The protesters appealed to President Bola Tinubu and Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, to intervene in the dispute and compel the relevant authorities to resolve the issue without displacing residents from their ancestral homes.

The community claimed that the controversy surrounding the project had already taken a heavy toll, alleging that more than six elderly residents had died after their homes were marked for demolition.

Chanting solidarity songs and displaying placards, youths and elderly residents gathered at the Obi Ezenabo Traditional Centre, Ebenesi, to reject the proposed demolition.

The protesters said they were not opposed to infrastructure development but insisted that the project should either be relocated away from residential areas or constructed underground.

Speaking during the protest, Chairman of Ebenesi Community, Chief Okechukwu Oraka, and his Vice Chairman, Chief Patrick Nwanyiaku, alleged that some elderly residents had collapsed and died following the pressure generated by the demolition notices.

According to them, officials of the Anambra State Physical Planning Board had begun marking houses for demolition to create a corridor for the electricity transmission line.

“They are also ordering us to demolish the marked houses by ourselves or risk the board demolishing them and giving us the cost of the demolition to pay,” the community leaders alleged.

They expressed concern that no relocation arrangement had been communicated to affected residents.

“We totally reject the project on the grounds that it did not initially pass through Nnobi. It has been a project conceived over 13 years ago, and in the original plan, Nnobi was not captured,” they said.

The community leaders further alleged that the route was subsequently diverted through Nnobi, describing the development as unfair to residents.

“Nnobi came into this TCN power line project through foul means. Nnobi was not captured in the original plan of that project,” they alleged.

The protesters, including more than 20 elderly men and women reportedly between 70 and 80 years old, said Ebenesi was already densely populated and had limited land available for relocation.

“We are not actually against development projects and infrastructure. We will only relocate to anywhere in Nnobi if they provide a place for us,” the protesters said.

They questioned the rationale behind infrastructure development if the same project would allegedly force the people it was intended to serve from their homes.

“While providing such infrastructure, the people that will enjoy them must live to enjoy them. If any infrastructure is provided and the people to enjoy it are sent into extinction, what is the need?” they asked.

Oraka, who said he had lived abroad, argued that transmission lines were generally not routed through densely populated residential areas in many developed countries.

“I have lived overseas. Power lines are not passed through residential areas,” he said.

He also questioned why generations of residents had allegedly never been informed that their ancestral lands were within a future power-line corridor.

“There was no time, since over 200 years, that our forefathers who bequeathed this land were told not to build our houses here because of a power line project,” Oraka said.

Representatives of affected villages within Ebenesi also called for the relocation of the project to an area where existing homes would not be demolished.

Comrade Staley Izuegbu, representing Ifite Village; Bartholomew Ojukwu, representing Umuafor Village; and the Secretary of Umuona Village, urged the authorities to consider an alternative route or construct the transmission line underground.

An 81-year-old retired civil servant, Mrs. Comfort Ngwudo, who spoke on behalf of residents above 80 years, condemned what she described as an oppressive approach to development.

“There is no man who owns ancestral land who did not get it from his forefathers or fathers, except those who bought from people. How can anybody who is reasonable come to a village and tell people to relocate from their ancestral land where they have lived for over 200 years?” she asked.

Ngwudo urged the government to reconsider the project’s implementation strategy.

“Government should not come to people with oppressive policies. If government wants to build anything for the people, they should ensure that it is what the people need, not what will lead to their early grave,” she said.

She further alleged that the dispute had already contributed to the deaths of more than six people in the community.

The protesters later extended their demonstration to Awuda and Ngo, the other quarters that make up Nnobi.

At Awuda, the delegation visited the palace of the traditional ruler of Nnobi, Igwe Engineer Nick Obi, while at Ngo they visited the residence of the President-General of Nnobi, Chief Sir Aloy Olubialu.

Both traditional and community leadership expressed support for the protesters’ peaceful conduct.

The traditional ruler, through his Palace Secretary, Ichie Obianumba Ajayiaku, commended the community for maintaining peace and assured the protesters that their grievances would be communicated to the relevant authorities.

The President-General of Nnobi, Chief Aloy Olubialu, also assured the protesters that the matter would be pursued with the Federal and Anambra State governments.

The community is now calling for urgent intervention by the authorities to prevent further escalation of tensions and ensure that any resolution protects both the need for electricity infrastructure and the rights of affected residents.
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