Umuana Community Reasserts Rights Over Govt College Umuahia Land

The Umuana Ndume-Ibeku community in Abia State has again dismissed reports alleging plans to cede Government College Umuahia (GCU) to the Amaoba Ime community in Ikwuano Local Government Area.
Community leaders described the online report as deliberately misleading and intended to distort long-established historical and legal facts regarding ownership of the land on which the school is situated.
They maintained that Government College Umuahia has always stood on ancestral land belonging exclusively to Umuana Ndume-Ibeku in Umuahia North Local Government Area.
The community characterised the allegation as “malicious, baseless, and capable of causing unnecessary tension” among neighbouring communities.
Addressing journalists on Friday, the community chairman, Mr. Friday Ohaeri, urged the public to disregard what he called “false narratives circulated online.” He said the community was compelled to speak out to prevent misinformation from gaining legitimacy through repetition.
Ohaeri stressed that Umuana Ndume-Ibeku would not “fold its arms while its ancestral heritage is threatened or redefined through false claims.”
He alleged that representatives of the Amaoba Ime community supplied incorrect information during a sitting of the state boundary committee on land disputes, chaired by the Deputy Governor of Abia State, Mr. Ikechukwu Emetu.
He called on the Abia State Government to remain impartial and transparent, and to be guided strictly by verifiable historical and documentary evidence. According to him, the Umuana Ndume-Ibeku community is fully prepared to present all relevant documents required to establish its ownership of the land beyond doubt.
The chairman explained that the community’s forefathers donated the land to Rev. Robert Fisher, a British Anglican priest, in 1926.
Fisher, he said, subsequently founded Government College Umuahia on the land in 1929 with the full consent and cooperation of Umuana elders.
“There are clear documents, records, and oral histories supporting this uncontested donation,” Ohaeri said.
He further traced Umuahia’s historical connection to the college, noting that Umuana was the first son of Ndume-Ibeku.
According to him, this lineage explains why the institution bore the Umuahia-Ibeku identity from its inception.
Ohaeri added that Umuana’s ownership of the Abia State University campus and the Timber Market land has never been disputed.
“It is on record that the boundary between Umuahia North and Ikwuano is the Ohimiri River,”
“In our language, the land is called Ogbaododo Umuana, meaning land given by our forefathers to Government College.”he said.
He emphasised that the school’s official name has always been Government College Umuahia-Ibeku and insisted that there is no historical, cultural, or administrative basis for linking the college to Ikwuano Local Government Area.
He warned that any attempt to alter the school’s identity or cede its land would be firmly resisted.
Also speaking, Chief Ikechukwu Meregini, Chairman of the GCU Boundary Adjustment Committee, corroborated the community’s position. He said he possessed ample documentary evidence proving Umuana’s ownership of the land on which the college stands.
“The land hosting Government College Umuahia belongs to Umuana, and the evidence is overwhelming,” Meregini said. He challenged anyone disputing the claim to seek legal redress rather than spread misinformation.
“Our great-grandfathers gave the land to Rev. Fisher, and the records are clear,” he added.
Government College Umuahia has produced distinguished alumni across literature, politics, the arts, the military, and academia. Notable alumni include Chinua Achebe, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ben Enwonwu, Lazarus Ekwueme, and General Alex Madiebo.