By EDISON Okereke
Leaders of the Umuoyima Autonomous Community have reaffirmed ownership of the Tipper Park in Owerri, and pledged support for over 3,000 truck drivers operating there, saying the land has not been sold and tenants will not be evicted without government due process.
The assurance came during a meeting at the park on yesterday between the community’s Elders-in-Council, youth and town union leadership, and Tipper Park management.
Chairman of Tipper Park, Chinedu Richard, said the park has paid monthly rents to Umuoyima for more than 40 years and has receipts to prove it.
He traced the park’s history to 1983, when the late Governor Sam Mbakwe’s wife, relocated them from their old site to make way for a Children’s Park. “It was the people of Umuoyima that we did all the traditional rites for pertaining to the land. Then we started staying here,” Richard said.
The meeting was called after some individuals told park operators they had “bought the place” and should vacate.
“They just came and told us that they had acquired the place, that they had bought it, that we should vacate! They did not come with any documents,” Richard said.
Other community ommunity leaders rejected the claim.
President-General of Umuoyima, Godwin Opurum, stated: “This is Umuoyima’s land.” Leader of the delegation, Elder Godfrey Ofurum, added during the traditional kola presentation: “We have come to tell you that what is our own is our own… you are our legitimate tenants.”
Former President-General Chief Christian Anukam warned against “behind-the-scene racket with a people’s common patrimony,” noting some individuals were demanding ₦40 million. “If the government wants to use the land, they should tell us why, relocate us to another place. We do not intend to fight the Government,” he said, citing the peaceful relocation of the old Timber Shed to Naze as precedent.
Youth President Comrade Emmanuel Ndubueze and Hon. Paschal Ugwuanyi also stressed that the land belongs to the entire Umuoyima people and that due process must be followed.
Tenant Odugo Martin Njoku said operators have been anxious for three weeks. “The land belongs to Umuoyima, and I have never heard that one person owned the land,” he said.
Richard appealed directly to Governor Hope Uzodimma, describing him as “God-fearing” and pro-people. He said any government decision to take the land must include an alternative site, warning that evicting the park without relocation would cause traffic chaos.
“If for any reason the Governor has decided to take the place, I know the Governor will have the plan to relocate us anywhere else because… we have more than three thousand vehicles that park here at a time at the close of work every day. If he says we should leave this place without an adequate arrangement… the whole of Owerri metropolis will be filled with tippers,” he said.
He added that tipper operators are major beneficiaries of the governor’s road projects and “know the Governor is the one that will decide.”
For now, both the park management and Umuoyima leaders say they are waiting for official communication from the Imo State Government before any action is taken.
