Oba Ewuare Dragged Into Obaseki, Ize-Iyamu Land Dispute

The revered Benin monarch, Oba Ewuare II was on Sunday evening being dragged into the land dispute between Governor Godwin Obaseki and his 2020 governorship challenger, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

 GreenWhiteGreen GWG had reported that Governor Obaseki had initiated plans to revoke the certificate of occupancy of Amagba Farms owned by Pastor Ize-Iyamu.

The move has been laced in controversy.

Adding a new dimension to the crisis, Mr. John Mayaki who worked as an aide to Obaseki at the beginning of his first term and subsequently served as a spokesman to Ize-Iyamu disclosed that part of the land that the governor wants to take from Ize-Iyamu was given to him by Oba Ewuare II.

In a statement posted on his verified Facebook page, Mayaki said:

While noting the claim of the Amagba Community that Ize-Iyamu purchased land from the community, Mayaki said:

“What was skipped, however, was that a sizable portion of the land now brought into dispute by  the government was given to Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu by the revered Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II. This is a fact known to both the state government and the community elders. That they are refusing to acknowledge or honor it, and are in fact laying claims to the portion too, reveals a public disregard and translates into a direct challenge of the monarch’s ownership of the portion so given. As any true Benin son or daughter would agree, this is an outrage.”

Also disputing claims by some community members that the land in question was not being used, Mayaki said:

“Further, the elders claimed in the statement that the land had not been utilized and is home to thieves, robbers, rapists, and other criminal elements. It is unclear which land they were referring to and whether they had not been mistaken, or confused by the bias they made little efforts to hide, considering that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu’s land in the community is not only protected by a fence but plays host to several notable structures facilitating various agriculture undertakings which the community, Edo State, and indeed the South-South region have benefited from.

“The Federal Government, under the N-POWER scheme, has twice conducted agricultural training for candidates selected across the South-South region on the farm. Similar to other institutions, churches, private organizations, and notably the Edo State government too. They have all sent students and other individuals to the farm to gain practical knowledge and improve their expertise. Hardly could all of these be done on a territory supposedly playing host to robbers and criminals.

“In fact, as a mark of recognition and gratitude for attracting development to the community with the farm, not least the completion of a previously abandoned electrification project, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu was made an elder of the community despite not being its indigenous member. These are all easily verifiable facts, reports of which are in the public domain, including the portion of land given to Pastor Ize-Iyamu by the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, to the knowledge of the community. Are they also asking the government to revoke the same? Is the ownership of the Oba over the portion of land he gave to Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu also in dispute,” he asked in reference to the dispute between Gov Obaseki and his 2016 and 2019 challenger.

“If truly there was a case of encroachment and ‘domination’ as alleged in the statement, how come the community has not approached the courts for arbitration, instead of doing what could now be reasonably interpreted as manipulating and riding on the vindictive feelings of an aggrieved political character who is bent on using the instruments of state to inflict retributive damage on his opponents?”

“Once sold, the ownership of any possession, including lands, changes hands. Should the original owner run into hard times and in desperate need of a windfall, the right approach is to seek inventive means of revenue generation, not devote efforts to back-door repossession of that which has been sold and handed over for yet another auction. It is illegal and immoral. And by instigating and sponsoring these efforts, the state government is causing a big dent in the state’s investment viability as no investor commits funds in environments where laws are treated as secondary to personal sentiments and legal ownership of properties are revoked, frivolously, to avenge perceived slights,” he concluded in the evolving land dispute between Obaseki and Ize-Iyamu.

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