Issele-Azagba Community Accuses Cubbana Group of Encroachment

•••demands overnment intervention as tensions rise

•••demand suspension of cubbana group until negotiation hold

The Issele-Azagba community in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State has intensified its protest against alleged encroachment on its ancestral farmland by developers of the proposed Cubana Millennium Estate, insisting that the state government must immediately intervene to prevent an escalation of tension.

In an open letter acknowledged by Government House Asaba on December 1, the community expressed concern that the estate developers entered the land despite the ongoing boundary adjustment exercise between Issele-Azagba and neighbouring Okpanam, which has not yet been concluded.

At a press conference held in Asaba, the President General of the Issele-Azagba Development Union, Elder Patrick Isichei, reaffirmed the community’s openness to development but condemned what he described as the forceful takeover of their land.

“We are not anti-investment, but Cubana Group should do the needful,” he said. “They should come to negotiate and not forcefully acquire our lands, and we stand by it.”

He also criticised what he called a lack of decisive action by government authorities.

“As law-abiding citizens of Delta State, we want the people to hear our voice, and it shouldn’t be seen as a weakness,” he said, warning that the community’s patience must not be mistaken for surrender.

Also speaking at the briefing, Hon. Ike Augustin Ijeh, a spokesman of the Union, expressed shock that the land which he described as “fully belonging to Issele-Azagba” was allegedly carrying documentation associated with Okpanam.

“This is our ancestral land, our heritage,” he declared. “That we are law-abiding citizens and choose to fight on the side of the law doesn’t make us cowards.”

While commending the state government for its earlier efforts to calm tensions, he criticised what he described as a troubling silence and lack of follow-up.

“Are we no longer Deltans?” Hon. Ijeh asked. “No community is more Deltan than Azagba.

And Azagba has always supported the government of the day in all ramifications despite the fact that we have not been rewarded directly.”

He demanded clarity from the state authorities regarding their position on the matter.

“The government should come and state on whose side they are. Or is it because we have no one in government to speak for us?” he queried.

Hon. Ijeh further accused neighbouring communities of taking advantage of the delay in the boundary adjustment report to sell off parts of Issele-Azagba’s land.

“While we await the boundary to be ascertained by government, other communities are busy selling off our lands just because we choose to look to government, which is now sitting on the fence,” he said. “The land in question is and I repeat not within the area in boundary dispute.”

He called for an immediate halt to all activities on the disputed site.

“We don’t want to take laws into our hands, but Cubana Group should halt everything going on on that land for now,” he said.

 “We cannot chicken out, we cannot be silent, we are not cowards,” he added.

The community reiterated that it has complied with the Deputy Governor’s earlier directive for both communities to stay off the disputed areas pending the outcome of the boundary committee’s work. However, it insists that the developers’ activities violate that order and threaten peace in the region.

Residents are now calling on the Delta State Government to take urgent, decisive action to prevent further conflict and ensure that due process is followed.