By Anayo Okoli – Enugu

Enugu State Government and two communities, including Amechi, Awkunanaw, home of former governor of old Anambra state, Senator Jim Nwobodo are battling a firm, Private Estates International West African Limited, PEIWA, over alleged land grabbing.

Already, the Enugu State Government has revoked the certificate of occupancy, CoO, for 1097 hectares of land which the real estate firm, said it acquired 11 years ago under the administration of former Governor Sullivan Chime and has invested billions of Naira to develop some portions of the land.

The government said it revoked the CoO because the real estate firm allegedly forged the papers with which it secured the land, a claim rejected by the firm.

Following the revocation, properties worth millions of Naira have been destroyed in the massive estate .

Last week, the two communities of Obeagu and Amechi, embarked on peace protest to Enugu Government House to thank Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for revoking the land and asked him to complete the process by returning the land in dispute to them.
Bone of contention.

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The communities are alleging that they did not give the land in question to the company while the company insists that it properly acquired the land from the State Government which issued them the necessary papers and CoO after signing all the relevant agreements.

According to the two communities, they gave out only 318 hectares to former Governor Jim Nwobodo when he wanted to build a campus of the then Anambra State University of Technology, but he could not achieve that because his administration was caught short by the 1983 military coup.

They said they were surprised that the 318 hectares they voluntarily gave out for the aborted University project was hiked to 1097 hectares for a housing estate project tagged “Centenary City”, and praised the State Government for revoking the land but demanded that the land be reverted to them.

But in its own claim, PEIWA, which has renowned development economists, Prof. Pat Utomi insisted it legally acquired the said land and invested a huge amount of money with over 130 structures in the sprawling estate.

According to its managing director, Kingsley Eze, “to the knowledge of the Enugu State Government and with its consent, a legal mortgage was created over the land, which was duly registered after the payment of huge fees to the Government. PEIWA took possession of the land in 2009 and has so far invested several billion naira on the project.

“Under the terms of the agreement, all the revenue due to the Government of Enugu State from sale of land, (estimated to be over N4 billion) were to the knowledge of the Enugu State Government to be placed in an escrow account domiciled in the then Diamond Bank Plc, now Access Bank Plc for onward transfer to the government.

“On November 10th Day, 2009, the Government of Enugu State issued a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) registered as 20/20/1622 in the Lands Registry, Enugu covering the 1,097 hectares shown on survey plan with number EN(A) 594. The C of O was backed by an off”.

The firm also claimed that it met all the obligations under the agreement for the host and accused t he State Government of not fulfilling its own bargain for the host communities, saying the government has failed to pay appropriate compensation to the host communities as stipulated in the terms of the agreement.

“Surprisingly, the ENSG has now “manufactured” a Notice of Intention to revoke the C of O. The notice of intention which is dated 30/10/2019 and gave PEIWA 21 days notice of its intention to revoke the C of O for non-payment of ground rent and premium. The notice of intention was allegedly delivered to PEIWA on 30/11/2019.

In other words, by the papers ENSG filed in the case in court, it revoked the C of O, three days before it delivered the notice of intention to revocation”.

The Government alleged that the firm did not pay ground rents as the reason for the revocation, but the firm said that the Government stated in the CoO that ground rent was waived as the off-takers would do that.

The Government also accused the firm of forging the survey plan with which it got the CoO. Specifically, the Anambra State Official Gazette was fake as it was signed by Allison Madueke instead of late Sampson Omeruah who was the military governor in 1986 which the document bears.

Meanwhile, representatives of the host communities in Suits No: E/437/2012 and E/416/2012 had sued the Government of Enugu State and PEIWA demanding their compensation.

Nwobodo speaks, calls for peace

Meantime, Chief JimNwobodo has explained that about 40 years ago he tried to build a university in his homestead but could not complete the process of acquisition and development before the military coup that sacked them in 1983, and regretted that the land is now a subject dispute.

He faulted the gazette for wrong date and signatures as well as the university’s name. H e said he acquired 318 hectares for Anambra State University of Technology and not Enugu State University of Science and Technology, as according to him, Enugu State was not created then.

Nwobodo insisted that he acquired 318 hectares for the university and not 1097 for Centenary City. He commended Governor Ugwuanyi for intervening and urged that the matter be resolved peacefully.

“This land thing is a very serious matter that should not be joked about. It is not politics. There are people whose parents and grandparents are buried in this land and you come and take their land without telling them on the guise of building a centenary city.

“What manner of centenary city? It is not fair.

“I gave out only 318 hectares and you have now increased it to 1097 hectares. It is bad. This power is temporary. The power of the governor is temporary. When you are being sworn in, you think the world is now at your feet”.

Vanguard News Nigeria.