Residents of Yerima quarters, a community in Akko local government area of Gombe state have caught a suspected land dealer Ibrahim Mohammed, alias ‘Danburam’ of Abuja quarters in the state capital for allegedly encroaching on their community graveyard.
Speaking with newsmen, a member of the community committee Malam Ibrahim Muhammed Inuwa revealed that the residents of the area woke up in the morning and sighted the suspected land dealer digging and demarcating parts of the cemetery for allocation to buyers.
He said Danburam was apprehended by the residents because he was allegedly digging out some old graves in the cemetery as parts of the plots he earmarked for sale.
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He called on the security agencies and relevant authorities to intervene in the matter in order to avoid conflicts adding that they had been making use of the cemetery in the past 20 years for burials.
Also speaking, another member of the community Malam Abubakar Adamu said what infuriated them was when they saw the suspected land dealer digging out bones and skeletons of dead people on the plot.
He said one month ago, his daughter was buried in the graveyard lamenting that the action of the land dealer was a disrespect to the dead people lying in the graveyard.
According to him, if not for the intervention of the community leaders, irate youths of the area would have beaten him up saying everyone in the area was annoyed to see that the graveyard was being trespassed by suspected land dealers.
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“The graveyard was closed last month after the burial of my daughter. It was closed because it is now full. However, it is improper for anyone to encroach it because the graves still contain the bones of dead people”. He lamented.
But on his part, the accused person Danburam denied digging out the graves and claimed that the ‘old cemetery’ was donated to an Islamic group known as ‘Da’awa group’ in which he is a member by a former senator representing Gombe north Haruna Garba who earlier bought the land and donated it to Yerima community to serve as a cemetery.
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He also said that the donor gave the plot to the group for the construction of an Islamic school adding that he was clearing the place for that purpose when members of the community converged and apprehended him.
However, when contacted, officials of the ‘Da’awa’ group denied knowledge of the land donation to them.
