Plateau retirees, widows protest Lalong’s forceful takeover of land acquired with loan

By Mark Moses

Some retirees, widows and orphans among others have protested against Plateau State government for selling their plots of land at Kangachik, Zawan area of Jos South Local Government.

The protesters who carried placards with different inscriptions on Saturday appealed to Gov. Simon Lalong to stop the plan which is ochestrated by Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development to rub them of their lands.

They alleged that government is selling off their lands which they acquired while in active service.

According to them, the previous administration in the State attempted taking over the lands forcefully but they challenged the decision and the case is still ongoing at the State High Court in Jos.

Speaking to journalists during the protest, Elder Pam Dung said that they legitimately acquired lands and they have the documents to prove their ownership of the land.

Dung said that they were surprised that the present administration has silently began the sale of the land to other people.

“We want to let the public know our plight, we collected loans and bought the while we in active service and they want to take land from us. The Ministry of Physical Planing and Urban Development during former governor Jonah Jang approached us to sell the land to government. They offered to compensate us with the sum of N190,000 per plot but we rejected the offer. We rejected because some of us bought the land from the original owners at the rate of between N500,000 to N700, 000 per plot, and cannot sell to government at a loss.

“We approached the Court as group stop them from taking the land from with adequate compensation. The matter is still in court and to our surprise, the ministry has commenced sale of 9″0the said land to other people.

“We learnt that those inside for N2 million while those close to the highway they are selling at the rate of N3 million,” he alleged.

The retiree told journalists that their lands have been confiscated by those in power.

Dung said that government lied to them that they needed the land for government usage but to their chagrin, they selling the land to other individuals.

Another protester and Widow Mrs Mary Manu, said that her land was bought by her late husband and she had been struggling to pay children schools as well as rent.

She said that they were hoping that would raise a structure on the plot to alleviate their suffering for government to come confiscate it without compensation.

She expressed surprise that despite their protest, Government still insisted on selling the lands.

“We are appealing to government to help us, and give us our land back,” she said.