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Landowners in Anambra State’s Ifite-Nteje community took to the streets yesterday, decrying the vandalism of their properties by a group of rogue youths.
Tragedy struck when Malachy Chukwu, a hotelier whose business was ravaged by the rampaging youths, took his own life in an apparent act of desperation. His devastating loss had seemingly become too much to bear.
The protest, led by the Divine Heaven Amalgamated Landlords Association, demanded justice and compensation for the destroyed properties.
Hundreds of demonstrators, both men and women, flooded the streets, brandishing colorful placards emblazoned with powerful messages that echoed their outrage and demands for justice.
The protesters claimed that a rogue group masquerading as leaders of the Ifite-Nteje Development Union went on a rampage, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, including the ruins of a hotel on Chinua Achebe Airport Road, with estimated losses running into billions of naira.
Chief Patrick Maduegbuna, the Chairman of the Divine Heaven Amalgamated Landlords Association, made a passionate plea to Governor Chukwuma Soludo to step in and prevent the complete collapse of law and order in the state.
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He said: “The transaction took place in 2019 and the association started developing the place after payment.
“But all of a sudden, they started demolishing our property there, saying the land deal had been revoked. They demolished houses, a hotel and other buildings nearing completion.
“We called them to know what the matter was and they said we did not buy the land correctly, that we should buy it again and add money.
“We chose to protest rather than take the law into our own hands. There are more than seven estates there. All we want is to have our property back.”
Also speaking, the association’s secretary, Mr Nwako Maduka, said the landlords paid all the required dues and provided the documents signed by the same people who were trying to revoke the land sold to them genuinely.
The Chairman, Ifite-Nteje Land Management Committee, Chief Ikechukwu Erikeife, said some young men who previously sold their own plots were making efforts to sell the same land the second time, adding that land grabbing in order to make money at all cost was the source of confusion in Ifite-Nteje.
He said the parcels of land were acquired by the developers through the right source, promising to look into the situation as the protesters could not afford to buy the land the second time.
The Secretary of ifite-Nteje Land Management Committee, Mr Ngoesina Okechukwu, described the brains behind the disturbances as meddlesome interlopers.
Okechukwu, a lawyer, said the estate developers followed the due process in acquiring the land from Ifite-Nteje.
He said: “I was in Abuja and heard about the protest organised by the opposition, who were claiming to be executive members of Ifite-Nteje Development Union.
“The same group was said to have claimed they had abolished the Ifite-Nteje Land Management Committee and revoked the land sold to the landlords association.
“The Ifite-Nteje Land Management Committee is a body constituted by the community with power of attorney, which means it can sue and be sued.
“The court had taken judicial notice of the land committee as representative of Ifite-Nteje in so many cases, securing judgment for the entire Nteje community,” he explained.
The Eastern Updates reports that nearly 70 associations acquired the sprawling land along the airport road, a strategic location, and that most of the buildings razed were in different phases of development, with some almost ready for occupation.
