Onitsha South LG vows to recover landed govt properties fraudulently appropriated

PHIL OKOSE, Onitsha

Irked by incessant encroachment on government-landed properties despite repeated warnings to steer clear of such properties, the Onitsha South Local Government Area, Anambra State, has vowed to recover all government properties fraudulently appropriated.

The Secretary to the council, Hon. Paul Onuachalla, made the vow while reacting to claims by an Onitsha based business man, Mr. Uzoeto Sabest, that the LG Mayor, Hon. Emeka Orji, demolished his Buildings at Silas Works road worth #600 million despite having approval and Certificate of Occupancy, (C of O) of the demolished buildings.

In his swift reaction to the claim of Sabest, the council scribe stated,” I’m reacting to the publication made by Uzoeto Sabest, asserting that, Onitsha South Local government demolished #600 million worth of business center and a call to Mr Governor to intervene.

“First and foremost, the land in question is along Silas Works road and this particular land is Council property fraudulently appropriated by individuals. We inherited the land as Transition Chairman and as an elected Mayor.

“Mr Uzoeto helpfully admitted that there had been a series of invitations extended to him even prior notices before we demolished the property. The reality is that the land rightly belongs to Onitsha South Local Government. There is sufficient evidence in support of our claim and, there are other properties equally involved that we are trying to recover.

“The C of O he is referring to, ordinarily cannot cure bad title, if you have a bad title to a property, it remains a bad title regardless of having C of O or not, a bad title remains a bad title, C of O makes impression of a genuine property, yes, if the title for the land in question is bad, it remains bad, C of O cannot cure it.

“When we countered him, we asked him a number of questions, he admitted that the place in question is Primary Health Center and that he bought it from Hon. Chuma Nzeribe and we have the deed between him and Chuma Nzeribe and this deed has no recital, it did not show how they come about the land, both of them are not indigenes of Onitsha.

“The other papers we saw was a letter from Chief Odii Umolu of 110 Awka Road requesting for governor, the then governor Mbadinuju, to allocate this land to him and he was purportedly, granted same land on the 11th of May 2001 to Chief Odii Umolu of 110 Awka Road, shortly after, we have again another deed of assigning between Uchenna S. Uzoeto and Chuma Nzeribe of 110 same Awka Road Onitsha, Onitsha North LGA. So we have Hon Chuma Nzeribe of the same 110 Awka Road.

“This particular deed of assigning did not say how Chuma Nzeribe came about this land or how Chief Odii Umolu came about this land, so it is a whole lot of fraudulent transaction and the C of O that is attached to it is clearly obtained by material non disclosure. They failed to disclose material fact of this land to the Ministry of Land Awka.

“There is also no evidence of transaction between Chief Chuma Nzeribe and Chief Odii Umolu showing that this is a case of individuals fraudulently annexing Local government/public land and we have to do what we did to serve as a deterrent and a warning to other individuals hoping to annex another public properties now or in the nearest future,” the secretary posited

On the case being pending in court according to Sabest, the secretary said that the court case is between himself (Sabest and Chief Emeka Orji and not Onitsha South Local Government.

“So Onitsha South Local government is not a party to the said suit. Parties to the suit are Uchenna S. Uzoeto, Emeka Orji and Anambra state government as defendants.

“Onitsha South LG is not a party to this suit. He went and sued Chief Emeka Orji in a personal capacity which has nothing to do with the LG, Orji is purely a public servant, he is executing the resolution of the council and it is Onitsha South LG that took possession of her land fraudulently annexed by Uchenna S.Uzoeto and others, so where did we get it wrong?

“This is a case of Onitsha South LG seeking to recover her property. As far as I am aware, this is a case of a fraudulent transaction whereby the LG is a victim of the fraudulent land transaction and Onitsha South LG under the able leadership of Chief Emeka Orji is poised to recover every inch of Onitsha South LG property fraudulently annexed by any individual no matter how highly placed that individual is. We are recovering every pin that has taken away from us” he further vowed.

He consequently appealed to the general public who want to own land, to conduct due diligence and do not just depend on going to land Registry but do their locus inquest, find out the land, what is it for, who owns it before, how it come about, is it by inheritance or by allocation, check every paper, because someone in one way or the other mislead the Land Registry Authority and get registered.

“This is the problem we are facing in Niger Street whereby somebody converted Ndem Ndem market to private property and somebody issued him a C of O,” he disclosed.

In her contribution, to the land saga, Mrs Grace Anekwe, Chairman, Woliwo Welfare Association, Onitsha South, stated that the original purpose of the land in question is for the primary health center which was there when Okwadike, former governor, was rounding up his regime and Mbadinuju, his successor, coming in.

” I am not against LG demolition of the land, let the public thing that would benefit the public be sighted there, what I would be against is allocating it to another person instead of the natural owner of the land”, she posited.