By Onyeananam Edmund
Allegations of unlawful demolition of a house and demand for ransom against the Owerri Capital Development Authority (OCDA) seems to have taken a new dimension and this time around, the counsel of the victim, Mgbemena Kingsley have appealed to the inspector General of police, Ibrahim Idris to address the issue.
According to a letter from the principal counsel, T, N Eke Esq. addressed to the IGP, Nigeria police force Headquarters, Abuja, Mr Mgbemena received a phone call from one Chigemezu that his house had been demolished by the OCDA under the directive of the Commissioner for Lands Imo State.
The letter read “in doing this, the team headed by the Head of operation, OCDA, Austin Ukanwa who carried out the exercise with sophisticated machines like Excavator and Bulldozer.
Upon hearing this, our client sent some of his relatives to Irete where the house was situate for confirmation. Our client, prior to starting the building meticulously cause a building plan to be prepared for him by a qualified Architect, thereafter, sent same to the OCDA for approval. The receipt evidencing. Periodically, while the building was going on, officials of OCDA were frequenting the site and gave words of encouragement to him to continue in the building project”
The principal counsel in his letter described the situation as frustrating, adding that the victim did not receive any notice from individuals or government establishment. He also revealed that a former general manager, OCDA from Irete had demanded a ranson of two million naira from the victim which he refused because he obtained the land legitimately.
The letter also read “it is also evident that one Austin Ukanwa, Head of Department operations, OCDA told our client that the ‘powers that be in Imo State’ knew about the demolition”
