Tears Among Farmers In Enugu As Nnamani Moves To Clear Their Farmland To Create Space For Wife’s Funeral
There is palpable anxiety among peasant farmers in Amechi-Uwani in the Enugu South local government area of Enugu State as former senate president Ken Nnamani has concluded plans to destroy crops on their farmland to create enough space to give his late wife, Jane a befitting burial.
It was earlier reported in May that Nnamani’s wife, Jane, died at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Enugu, where she had gone for minor surgery which she did not survive.
Her burial has reportedly been fixed and preparations are in top gear to give the 60-year-old mother of four a befitting burial.
However, part of the plan for the funeral is to secure a space that will accommodate her loved ones, well-wishers and sympathisers who are expected to attend the burial. As a result, it was gathered that the former Senate President had asked farmers near Amechi Awkunanaw Square at Amechi Uwani to remove their crops from the area because bulldozers had been mobilised to clear the farms to create space for his visitors coming for his wife’s funeral. SaharaReporters learnt that Nnamani wants the farmland to give way for a parking space for many visitors expected to attend the “elaborate funeral” he has planned for his late wife.
It is the rainy season when many farming activities take place; therefore, the affected peasant farmers are agitated that they are going to lose their investments, especially those who have just cultivated their farmland and are not yet due for harvesting.
Nnamani is said to have promised to compensate the farmers who have cultivated crops such as cassava, maize, groundnuts, vegetables and other farm produce but the amount is not stated.
It was learnt that the farmers, who are predominantly old women, prefer to retain their farm crops instead of being compensated for having their farmland cleared because a woman died.
Some women who have farms around the village square said that they had pleaded with the former lawmaker to defer the burial till January when most of them would have harvested their crops but all their pleas were to no avail as he was said to have insisted that he must bury his wife on June 16, 2023.
Some of the affected women who spoke to SaharaReporters lamented that hunger is going to kill them and their immediate families as the cost of living is becoming unbearable.
One of the affected women who simply identified herself as Mrs Chinyere said, “What does he want us to do? Where does he want us to go? We have been farming here over the years and we feed our children and our families from here. If they demolish our farms, what compensation are they going to give us? We have pleaded that they should extend the burial to December or January because of our crops but they are not listening.”
She asked why the former Senate President refused to look elsewhere for land rather than theirs.
“We have a primary school in Eke Otu area, why doesn’t he go there to do the burial ceremony?” the farmer lamented.
“I borrowed money to plant yam tubers this year and if the farm is destroyed, what shall I do?” one of the peasant farmers lamented.
Meanwhile, a popular politician in Amechi, known as Madu Arum, aka Mama, who said he was touched by the plight of the farmers, was said to have compensated 10 old women whose farms are located in the area with the sum of N20,000.00 each which will not be enough to compensate them for the loss they will incur if their farmland is cleared.
At the time of filing this report, however, no one has been paid compensation by Nnamani and the clearance of the farm area is scheduled to commence on Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
“Yes, it is true that Nnamani wants to destroy the farms. Many of them have started removing their crops already so that they will not be affected by the expected demolition,” an Amechi indigene told SaharaReporters on Tuesday, adding that they were not happy with the decision but that there was nothing they could do to stop the rich from having their way.
Meanwhile, efforts made by SaharaReporters to get the former Senate President to speak on the issue were unsuccessful as he did not answer his calls.
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