A former commissioner in Enugu State, Barr Ozo Joe Mmamel has begged Governor Peter Mbah to carry out a detailed investigation into claims of land grabbing at a layout adjacent the abandoned Enugu International Conference Centre.
According reports that the Conference Centre project, initiated by the then governor Chimaroke Nnamani administration, was abandoned by successive governments.
There is now hint that the Governor Peter Mbah administration has taken moves to complete the gigantic edifice, with indications that the state government also plans to take over the nearby layout.
However, addressing journalists in Enugu on Wednesday, Mmamel said the plot of land housing his structure and that of others was duly allocated to him by then administration of Sullivan Chime.
While dismissing claims that he was a land grabber, he pleaded with Governor Mbah to examine the facts and not believe unverified claims being made on social media.
Mmamel, who said he would not be confrontational with the government, said “sometime in 2014, the Enugu State government under the leadership of His Excellency, Barr. Sullivan Chime allotted some parcels of land to eleven allottees in the land adjourning the International Conference Center.
“Proper processes were followed because the Surveyor General of the state designated it as a layout.
“He parcelled it and allotted it to eleven persons which I happen to be one of them.
“We were asked to perfect the allotment by paying the necessary fees for us to be issued with the certificate of occupancy and we paid.
“So, all the procedures in that order were followed and the statutory fees duly paid. In that same 2014, certificates of occupancy were issued to all the allottees.
“The ones that wanted to build, submitted their plans to the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority.
“The Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority Law provides that if you submit your building plan and if after one month there is no objection, it is deemed to have been approved. If it is not approved, they will even come and mark it ‘Do not build’.
“And since then, we have not had any interference from the government showing that we have encumbered the government land.
“So, it is clear that we are the bonafide owners of the lands in the layout.”
On the recent developments, he said not quite too long ago, a staff of the government in the person of the Chief of Staff to the governor, Barr. Victor Udeh came to the layout’s main gate and locked it.
According to Mmamel, “Not even a single notice was issued to any of the land owners before locking the main gate to the estate or to even evacuate any sensitive building materials from the layout.
“I had a hundred bags of cement that got caked. Then, the scavengers have taken charge of the estate since no one is permitted to enter there and they steal building materials, including iron rods.
“They were jumping from the International Conference Centre into the layout because there is a wall fence that demarcated the estate from the Centre.
“We are trying to have a dialogue with the government to know where we got it wrong. Is allocation by another government not respected by an incumbent government?
“We are trying to find a way of having a dialogue with the government because we are not interested in fighting the government; we are just interested in the truth of the matter, only for us to read a media report that we are land grabbers.”
Mmamel also dismissed insinuations that the layout extended to the International Conference Centre land.
“The layout and the International Conference Centre are not on the same land as there is a fence demarcating them,” he said, begging Governor Mbah to intervene on the matter.