87-year-old Pa Moses Obasuyi on Wednesday led residents of Ogbe-Ezoti, Benin City, in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State to protest what they termed an attempt to sell their ancestral homes to individuals by the Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki.

The protesters who took to major streets carried placards with inscriptions: ‘Obaseki be a leader like Moses and not Pharaoh’; ‘Our houses are not for sale’; ‘Ogbe-Ezito community, our ancestral homes, monuments, not for sale and no negotiations’; ‘Ogbe-Ezoti community has existed for more than 600years’, etc.

The protesters who blocked major roads, caused serious traffic jam at the popular Ring Road, the centre of Benin and it’s environs.

Speaking to journalists at the Secretariat of Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Edo State council, Pa Moses Obasuyi who sat on a chair due to his age said no to the Edo Government’s plan to sell their ancestral land to private business owners.

He asked the government to go to communities where there is enough land.

“We are here to say no to Governor Godwin Obaseki’s proposal to take over our lands and houses. The community has been there for the past 600 years ( six hundred). The place has a traditional ground.

“Governments had come and gone, and nobody has come there to eject us or give us any compensation as the government is claiming. We are saying no to Obaseki’s plan to take our homes and make us homeless,” He said.

Also speaking, Elder Douglas Osazze, secretary to the community said the community is not against developmental plans by the Edo State government, but the government should go to communities that are begging for development.

He said: “From all indication, it looks like the government is on a mission of land grabbing. The area is between Ezoti Street and the moat by Zenith Bank along Airport Road. The notice was pasted by EdoGIS and sent to nobody in particular, it stated that the community is to be taken “for overriding public interest.

“His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki is telling us to pack and relocate to elsewhere, which is not his concern.

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“This community is home to over 1000 people, and we have lived here for over 600 years, it is a business centre to several businesses, from which citizens earn their daily source of livelihood, to take care of their homes and families

“Governor Godwin Obaseki and his group have us believe that they are,
and want to sell this community to private individuals and we can not accept that,” He said.

Receiving the protesters at the NUJ secretariat Benin, chairman of the Edo council, Alenkhe pleaded with the protesters to go about it peacefully, maintaining that the union will find out the government’s side.

The Edo State Commissioner for Information,Andrew Ewenta when contacted could not respond, as he said he was in a meeting.