Imo Demolishes Top Govt. Official’s Property; People Applaud |The Source

*Amadi Confirms Fraudulent Acquisition During Okorocha’s Era

*More High Profile Demolitions    On The Way

By Charles Igbo

The Imo State Government has demolished the property  of one of its top and influential officers. The property was located in Owerri, Owerri, the Imo State  capital.

The Government, this magazine was told, did this to put aright the Owerri masterplan which has been badly distorted and abused.

The ante of the distortion and abuse was raised during the administration of former Governor Rochas Okorocha.

The demolition of the, almost, completed property was carried out by the Owerri Capital Development Authority, OCDA. The sprawling premises belonged to the Special Adviser to Governor Hope Uzodinma on Special Duties, Nze Chinasa Nwaneri.

OCDA said the property was in breach of the Owerri Master Plan.

Recall that Nwaneri was the one who bravely confronted Okorocha when, ill-advisedly,  the former Governor went to unseal the multi-billion Naira Royal Palm Hotels and Apartments, a property acquired by Nkechi, wife of the former, while her husband was in office, which was sealed and seized by the Government.

“Who are you?”, Nwaneri, famously, asked Okorocha who had earlier asked him same question, while on his much condemned mission to unseal a property sealed by the Government.

The demolition of Nwaneri’s property has been applauded by most people who saw it as a sign of a Government which wants to serve by example. “If the Government can demolish the property of one of its own, it is a signal that nobody’s property will be spared. What the Governor Hope Uzodinma has done, in this instance is to show that nobody is above the law, and that it is a serious Government”, said an elderly man who stood-by, watching the exercise.

The elderly man is correct.

This demolition was carried out on the heels of the setting up of a Committee by the Government to implement, to the letter, the Whitepaper on the recommendations of the Judicial Panel On Lands and Other Related Matters.

The Panel, set up by former Governor Emeka Ihedioha was, to the excitement of most Imo citizens, sustained  by Governor Uzodinma when he assumed office. The Governor  had resisted all pressure and blackmail to disband the Judicial Panels and Commissions set up by the Ihedioha administration. Uzodinma’s standard response  was: “I am an Imo son. I am interested in knowing what happened to our collective patrimony”

One of the recommendations of the Panel is for the Government to, quickly, restore the Owerri masterplan badly upturned by successive administrations, especially, Okorocha’s.

Uzodinma had assured Imo people that he would implement the Whitepaper, no matter whose ox is gored and, by so doing, restore the status and pride of the distorted masterplan.

The demolition of Nwaneri’s property is a good start, if only to confirm that the Governor meant to keep his promise to Imolites.

A reliable source told this magazine that this is “a kick-off as many high profile properties which ran foul of the law will follow.”

Speculations are that a number of properties belonging to Okorocha, his family, and cronies will be next on the line.

Barrister Willie Amadi, an Owerri indigene, and Federal  Commissioner representing Imo State on the Public Complaints Commission, in a post on his Facebook page  gave a background to the demolition of Nze Nwaneri’s property and the frauds associated with the distortion of the Owerri masterplan during the Okorocha administration. He confirmed that most parcels of land were greedily and fraudulently acquired, even though they knew it was against the law.

Barrister Amadi wrote, in the post he aptly titled: Test Of Loyalty And Sacrifice

“I sincerely condole with Nze Chinasa Nwaneri, Special Adviser to the Governor on Special Duties over the demolition of his premises by the Owerri Capital Development Authority [OCDA] for the breach of the Owerri Master Plan.

“I recall in 2015 when my law firm, TIME NOMINEES CHAMBERS, was involved in the partial negotiation of compensation between some of my brothers from Umuonyeche Village. Some of them like incumbent House of Assembly member Hon. Lugard Osuji and his predecessor Hon. Mere, Chief Ben Mere and Barr. Tony Tom-James and Barr. George Adiele whom I visited last Christmas in his pocket layout residence with Eddie Njemanze and Gerald Emenyonu, are all living there.

Nze Chinasa had started construction of his building in late  2016 while we were all in Abuja.

“I want to, authoritatively, confirm  that the entire stretch of land which is a green verge, under the Owerri Master Plan, were greedily and fraudulently converted by that heinous administration just to grab 80% of the land from the purported “public interest” conversation.

“I gave up more tgan 40 plots of ancestral land in that stretch which I bought from ODOR and OGAZI families of Owerri in 2005 when I realized it was a green verge.  I had proposed to the government to use the 40 plots for the establishment of a luxury water from park inconjuction with Landmark. I lost the entire land when Rochas and Uche(Nwosu)as Commissioner for Lands, eventually converted the entire stretch from Holy Ghost Bridge end to Nekede road Bridge end.

“I was not given even one plot of land despite my loss and complaints to the government before the fraudulent conversion and because of that, I brought an action against the State government for restitution and no defence have been filled till date.

“It is interesting that the current administration is using one of their own to show an example of how serious the recovery mantra is being enforced.

“I will urge anyone who will be affected like me by this exercise to bear the loss, as Chinasa too, for the overall benefit of the silent majority.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO CORRECT A MISTAKE”

For Imolites, interesting days are ahead.