By: AUSTINE AGBO EMMANUEL, Kaduna
Members of Unguwan Bulus in Kakura Community of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State have raised alarm over the illegal land grabbing and sale of their ancestral communal land by some unknown members of neighboring communities.
Chief Bulus Tukasa, the Sarkin Yaki Takura and Mr Gideon Bulus, the Mai Ungwa of Nissi Village in Chikun LGA, while speaking with journalists in Kaduna on Friday, said it has become imperative to put an end to the reckless abuse of human rights in the community that has resulted to the threat of public peace on different occasions.
The community stakeholders, who claimed ownership of the land, said the situation has become worrisome as some members of the community have constituted themselves into a group terrorizing the community, adding that some people came that they are from Kaduna State Geographical Information Service (KADGIS) without any approval or documents showing they are authentic and are selling off their land.
They noted that the situation in the community is very pitiable for unknown persons to come into their ancestral home and the place of their economic benefits to unlawfully take from them their family inheritance, and therefore, called on the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Uba Sani to intervene immediately before the community resolves to self help that may lead to the breakdown of law and order.
Chief Bulus said, “we calling on the executive Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Uba Sani to come to our aid and ensure that this activity from unlawful people are brought to an end, else we are going and our landed properties.
“We shall also use every legal means to resist the sale of our land. We have been kidnapped and taken into the forest, where our leaders were tied up and beaten until their family pay ransom for their release.
“If you want to buy land from a community that is not yours, the right thing to do is to go and make enquires from the elders of the land, not just accepting whatever land speculators tell you, because we cannot leave our homes nor forfeit our land to unknown persons just like that,” he said.
Speaking with our reporter on the development, the Public Relations Officer, PRO KADGIS, Helen Kafoi said there has been several reports of land grabbers not only in the community, but the state at large.
Helen said there are also cases of different groups of persons impersonating KADGIS, carrying out all manner of illegal activities, stressing that any group or persons without real approval documents from KADGIS are not from them and should be regarded as fraudsters.
She said, “definitely there are people that have been impersonating KADGIS. We have cases like that. So if there is no official document from government that is backing them, they are fraudsters because KADGIS will not do a thing like that. Nobody from KADGIS will come there and start doing anything without the right documents. If there is no document backing it from the government, that means, it is not official.” She said.
