The people of Obeagu Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State have petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, urging him to reject a request by officials of Private Estate International West Africa (PEIWA) for police protection over the enforcement of a contentious consent judgment in Suit No. E/1081/2019.
In the petition dated July 1, 2025, the community, speaking “for ourselves and on behalf of the entire people of Obeagu Awkunanaw,” described PEIWA’s application for police protection as one “made in bad faith, suppression of facts and therefore calculated to deceive.”
They warned the police hierarchy to “discountenance the said request,” insisting it was intended to “render our pending applications nugatory and foist a situation of helplessness on the court.”
Giving historical context, the community recalled that the land dispute dates back to the early 1980s when the then governor of old Anambra State, Sen. Jim Ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo, earmarked 318.560 hectares of land in the area for the siting of a university.
They noted that “preliminary survey was done and endorsed by the then Surveyor General, M.U.C Obi dated March 8, 1982 with Tracing No: MISC AN-53 for 318.560 hectares.” However, the project was abandoned after the end of Nwobodo’s administration in 1983.
The community alleged that in 2009, PEIWA moved into the land “in the name of a New Township Development Joint Venture with the Enugu State Government and began to destroy with heavy machinery all economic trees and habitation that lay in the path of their proposed development.”
They accused the company of annexing far more land than was originally acquired. “While purporting to take over the 318.560Ha earlier earmarked for the University by Senator Jim Nwobodo, [they] stealthily annexed a total of 1,097 hectares of ancestral lands partly belonging to Amechi Uwani and the other part to us, the Obeagu Awkunanaw community.”
The petition described how the original survey was “dishonestly and fraudulently re-scripted to bear PLAN No: EN (A) 594 in favour of the Enugu State University of Technology in 1985 and expanded it to 1097 hectares.”
Raising questions over the authenticity of this plan, they asked: “How come that Enugu State that was created in 1991 could acquire a land and have a Survey Plan in the name and form of Enugu State University of Technology pre-1991?” They further queried, “Why would the Plan number supposedly approved in 1985 bear initials of ‘EN’ being a state that was yet to be created as at 1985?”
They also questioned Gazette No. 12 of March 27, 1986, said to have revoked the communities’ customary rights of occupancy. “Navy Captain Allison Amaechina Madueke was not the Governor of Anambra State by March of 1986.
“Samson Omeruah was Governor from August 1985 till sometime in December 1987. Therefore, Navy Captain Allison Amaechina Madueke could not have issued a directive to publish a gazette and/or Yellow Paper in a state not under his administration.”
The community stated that the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issued to PEIWA was revoked in 2019 by the Enugu State Government through then Commissioner for Lands, Surv. Dr. Victor Chukwuemeka Nnam. “This revocation was published in the Daily Sun Newspapers of 29th November, 2019,” they wrote.
They explained that when PEIWA sued the Enugu State Government, “representatives of our community filed a joinder to the suit, as it was obvious that any judgement in the suit will affect our interests.”
However, they were “shocked” to discover that PEIWA had “procured this Consent Judgment while our application for joinder was still pending.”
The petition also noted that on June 23, 2025, the court “dismissed” PEIWA’s preliminary objection and ruled that the pending applications, including that of the Obeagu community, could now proceed.
The community said: “We are therefore appalled that the officials of PEIWA, despite their knowledge of the status of this case, will push for the execution of the consent judgment knowing full well that doing so will overreach our pending applications for joinder and the other challenging the Consent Judgment itself.”
Describing PEIWA’s application for police protection as “the height of deception and fraud,” they said: “It is the trite position of the law that parties must be patient and await the final decision of the court in respect of every matter submitted before the court.”
The community informed the IGP that PEIWA and two of its officials are currently standing trial at the Federal High Court in Enugu over alleged forgeries related to the disputed land. “Please find a copy of Charge Number FHC/EN/CR/84/2025, IGP V. KINGSLEY EZE & 2ORS as attached hereto,” the petition added.
They also cited the Enugu State House of Assembly’s Special Committee on Land Matters/Disputes which adopted a report on December 19, 2024, critical of PEIWA’s activities. “The Report was emphatic with regards to the various underhand actions of the company against us and against the overall interest of Enugu State.”
The petition concluded with a call for restraint: “It is our prayer that you refuse the request for the interest of justice, and to direct the Enugu state command not to honour or heed to such request at all.”
They urged the police not to take a “hasty decision that will not accord with best practices, and with the rule of law.”
Efforts to reach PEIWA officials for comments proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
