By Okonkwo Eze
Irate youths suspected to be land speculators yesterday pulled down a three-room apartment and a kitchen allegedly belonging to the head of Rosh of Ohr Adonai Synagogue Church, Nkpor-Agu, near Onitsha, Anambra State, one Pastor Sylvester Agu.

The incident, according to sources, was the climax of the pressure mounted on Agu and his family to vacate the land for the speculators laying claim to the land.
It was gathered that the speculators, led by one Amechi and acting on the instructions of a prominent Onitsha businessman, stormed the compound at about 6 a.m. yesterday,  and demolished the house.

Addressing newsmen at the scene of the incident,  Agu  claimed he acquired the land about 15 years ago from one judge, built the structures and moved in.
The pastor explained that as soon as the family moved in, they planted many economic trees by the Nkisi River side to check erosion, adding that the trees had already started bearing fruits.

According to him, speculators showed their face for the first time in the middle of 2013  persuading him to sign a document that the family would pack out of the compound by January, 2014 and relinguish the land to them.
Consequently, Agu said he agreed to sign the document, adding that he did so because the family was already pursuing its Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), from Anambra State Ministry of Lands, Survey and Urban Development.

The ministry, he said, confirmed that the land belonged to the Agu family.
The pastor said the speculators kept loitering around the compound until Wednesday when they stormed the compound and cut down all the economic trees and then went to the police at Onitsha Area Command where they leveled kidnapping and gun running allegations against him.

Thereafter, Agu said armed policemen moved into the compound as early as 5 a.m. on Thursday, searched the compound and whisked him to the station where he was detained and interrogated for hours before he was released on bail in the afternoon, adding that while still in the police custody, the speculators beat up one of his sons when he came outside the compound to feed their poultry birds. The Police Area Commander for Onitsha, Mr. Banjamin Wordu, said he was not aware of the demolition because, according to him, the perpetrators did not go there with the police.