…Enugu House Demolition

From Sylvia Udegbunam Enugu

A retired Assistant Comptroller-General of Immigrations, Okey Ezugwu, a Lawyer, has cried out over the demolition of his hotel building by forces he alleged have the backing of the Enugu State Government.

The building, located around the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, was demolished last week by bulldozers brought in by the Enugu Capital Development Authority.

According to the retired Immigration officer, trouble started in August 2021, when one Hyacinth Ayogu began to claim that he, Okey Ezugwu, had encroached into a parcel of land that was allocated to him.

“I told him that the land in question was allocated to me in 2013 by the Enugu State Government, through the Ministry of Lands, and that if he is laying claim to any portion of the land, the best thing to do was to go to the Ministry of Lands, because they have their mechanisms of determining land boundaries,” he said.

According to him, Ayogu neither went to the Ministry nor returned to the property until after a long time, only to return with soldiers to arrest the security men hired to guard the place.

“He came back with four soldiers and began to molest my security personnel and staff. Today, he will arrest my security men and take then to the police, and when they are released, he will come to arrest them again. This continued until he decided to go to court, and when he did, the Enugu State Government, which he had claimed gave him the land applied to join as a party to the dispute so as to be in a position to prove that they did not give the land to him. But he objected to this and went to the Court of Appeal to contest that the State government should not join in the matter, and we are still waiting for a date from the appellate court before they went to demolish the building,” he revealed.

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Although the matter was still in court, Ezugwu said the man arrived the site again about two weeks ago and began resurveying the entire area, claiming that they wanted to recreate the original masterplan of the area.

“I had to raise the alarm when this continued for some days. In the first place, I knew that it is the duty of the Ministry of lands to survey any portion they are allotting to any individual or institution. Private citizens do not survey government land. But because he was coming with soldiers, he forces his way into the premises, and at a time, had to climb my gate to gain access into my property,” he said.

He, said, that the forceful ways with which he accessed his property made him to install CCTV cameras, but the contingent of soldiers that came with him destroyed the equipment when they noticed they were being recorded.

“They came, this time determined to force me out of my property. When I saw them, I started recording, and once they fully gained access, the soldiers confiscated my phones, pinned me down and wiped everything stored in my gadgets, including my contacts,” Ezugwu lamented.

According to him, Ayogu, who claims to be a friend to the Chief of Army Staff, returned to the site with bulldozers, accompanied by people from the Ministry of Enugu Capital territory, and gave him 48 hours to vacate the premises, adding that when he contacted officials of the current administration in the state, they denied knowledge of the matter.

“I was later invited for a meeting at the Government House where I discovered that, contrary to what I was told earlier, the Enugu State Government had a hand in what was happening. I was surprised, because I am aware that government is a continuum, and if the State Government was still listed as a party to the dispute, and if the reason for Okey Hyacinth Ayogu’s appeal was to question the government’s application to be joined as a party, it became strange that the same government is taking sides with the person they are in court to prove he has no title to the land,” he said.

He said he was still waiting for the matter to be settled when Ayogu and the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority moved in with bulldozers to completely destroy the buildings he has erected at the site.

Buildings that were destroyed in the premised include a 2000-seat event hall and a one-story building serving as the gatehouse, he disclosed.

“I have been investing in that property since 2016, and when I retired from service, I decided to enhance the place because I know it was going to provide jobs for our people. In that premises is a hotel and that event centre, which they destroyed. I also have my Law office and conference room because I trained as a lawyer. But they have destroyed it all including my books, ICT facilities and equipments.

“Regrettably friends, contractors, service providers, and suppliers are still being owed so much. I served this country very diligently, retired to come home and rest. But it appears that even my own state does not want to welcome me home,” he cried.

Ezugwu said “in my days as a senior Immigration officer, we had cordial relationships with all security agencies including the military. The Nigerian military remains the best in terms of professionalism in Africa and have proved that in other climes. So, it is strange to me that soldiers will be used by civilian associates to molest innocent citizens. Those soldiers who supervised the destruction of my property followed Hyacinth Ayogu regularly and I really cannot understand how a civilian could be allowed the protection of soldiers in such a way as to allow them supervise the destruction of the properties of innocent people, and on a matter that was still pending in the Court of Law.”

The retired Immigration officer called on the Chief of Army Staff to intervene in the matter by withdrawing the soldiers attached to Ayogu and also urged the officials of the state government to respect the laws of the land and refrain from further acts capable of projecting it as lawless and disrespectful to rules and procedures of the Nigerian judiciary.