Indigenes of Ebenesi Community in Nnobi, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, have protested against the planned demolition of their ancestral homes to make way for a power line project.

The residents staged the demonstration at the Obi Ezenabo Traditional Centre and appealed to President Bola Tinubu and Governor Chukwuma Soludo to intervene. Community leaders said officials of the Anambra State Physical Planning Board had marked several houses for demolition and ordered landlords to pull them down within 14 days or face government action. They alleged that more than six elders had collapsed and died after their homes were marked. The Chairman of Ebenesi Community, Chief Okechukwu Oraka, said the residents were not opposed to development but insisted that no arrangement had been made to relocate those affected. He claimed the power line project was diverted to Nnobi and was not part of the original plan. Oraka noted that the community had lived on the land for more than 200 years and suggested that the lines could be taken underground if the project must proceed. Other residents, including elderly members, echoed the call for the project to be relocated or redesigned to spare their homes. An official of the Anambra State Physical Planning Board, Cletus Ohame, said the demolition notices were duly served and that the area had been earmarked for the power line project for many years. He described the exercise as part of infrastructural development.