Lucky Obukohwo Reporting
The Coalition Against Land Grabbing and Deforestation (CALD), has vowed to resist the Edo state government’s decision to cede their lands to some multinational in the state without the consent of the people.
The group described the decision by the state government to forcefully acquire their ancestral lands and cede same to investors, as a subtle means of telling them to go into extinction.
The Coalition Against Land Grabbing and Deforestation (CALD), supported by Okpamakhin Communities Initiative, who stated this in Benin City, said the people have resolved to take back their lands.
Addressing the press, the Coordinator and founder of Okpamakhin Communities Initiative, Comrade Tony Erha, said that they have over the past 10 years conducted 28 protests to draw government attention but all fell on deaf ears.
He said they have instituted a case billed for hearing at the ECOWAS court and other lower courts with the hope that justice will be delivered
Comrade Erha, maintained that, despite the cases at the ECOWAS and lower courts, the people have been subjected to hardship and denied access to agricultural produce.
He commended the immediate past governor of the state, Adams Oshiomhole and the Minister of state for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Agba for their roles in securing the forest in their time.
He further appealed to the people to consider voting for the right people ahead of the state House of Assembly inorder for them to liberate them from the untold hardships hoisted on them since their ancestral lands have been taken away from them