Govt speaks on reported demolition of buildings in Enugu estate

The Enugu State Government has spoken on the reported demolition of some properties in Centenary Estate in Enugu State.

The estate, popularly known as the Centenary City, is located on a large expanse of land belonging to Obeagu Awkunanaw and some families in Amechi Uwani, a neighbouring community in Enugu South Local Government Area of the state.

It was, however, said to have been acquired by an estate developer, Private Estates International West Africa during the administration of a former governor of the state, Sullivan Chime.

The reported demolition

A popular Nigerian skit maker, Chibuike Ugwu, otherwise known as Untouchable had, on 19 January in a video clip, raised an alarm that his mansion was on the verge of being demolished by the state’s urban development agency, the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority.

In the five-minute clip which has gone viral on social media, Mr Ugwu appealed to Nigerians to help him prevail on Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State not to demolish his property.

The skit maker said he was not involved in any fraud and that he built the property through his hard work, adding that he has all the documents to show that the property was approved.

He said he returned from Lagos State, Nigeria’s south-west and observed that his building in the estate had been marked for possible demolition with an instruction to him to remove the structure.

The clip showed that the building was marked for demolition by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority on 12 January.

It also showed many other buildings in the estate which were demolished by the agency.

“They destroyed more than 200 houses in this estate today. These are people’s investments. They came here. They were threatening to destroy my house. They even brought an excavator and attempted to demolish it,” he said in a mixture of English and pidgin English.

Mr Ugwu said he was ready to pay any levy imposed by the government on owners of properties in the estate.

“Na my only house for Enugu State be this, abeg,” he pleaded repeatedly.

Govt speaks

Reacting, The Enugu State Government denied demolishing any building in the estate, saying the originators of the video clip tried to de-market the state for investment.

The State Commissioner for Information, Aka Eze Aka, and the Chairperson of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, Uche Anya, debunked the allegation on Saturday when they conducted reporters around some demolished buildings in the estate, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.

They explained that the affected buildings were demolished because they served as kidnappers’ hideout, stressing that it was yet to demolish any of the unapproved structures in the area.

The officials added that the action of the development agency in collaboration with security agencies underscored the government’s commitment to the security of lives and property, protection of investments and contracts with investors.

“The culprits did not only erect the structures without any title and approval, they got inside this place pretending to be doing block industry, whereas as you can see, they were into nefarious activities,” Mr Aka said while addressing reporters.

The commissioner said, contrary to allegations by the skit maker, “not one single building earmarked for demolition was touched.”

“This is because we also have a human feeling to allow these houses for them to be regularised; they just went about to recycle old videos where some property were destroyed by past administrations,” he said.

On his part, Mr Anya said the agency would not “succumb to blackmail, including recycling and trending of videos of past demolitions.”

He explained that the law establishing the agency prohibited carrying out any development or municipal service within the capital territory without the written approval of the authority.

He said the leadership of the development agency was determined to stop unauthorised developments and carry on with the urban master plan restoration and renewal process, including those initiated by successive administrations.

“We took the initiative to mark the affected property in October 2023, issuing notices that should accord the developers a window to regularise their titles/properties, if any.

READ ALSO: Police raid criminals’ hideout in Enugu, arrest 3, recover firearms

“For emphasis, even though the notices had since expired, no unapproved but completed or occupied building was demolished during the exercise by ECTDA. We are still calling on the developers to do the right thing,” he said.

He explained that the 19 January demolition was based on an intelligence report about an illegal property that served as a kidnappers’ den at the Centenary City.

He stressed that in the course of their “due diligence,” they found out that the property, like many others at Centenary City, had no title or approval from the appropriate authorities.

“Although the building was not fully completed, the criminals had already mounted sophisticated surveillance equipment such as CCTV cameras, and PTZ cameras, in addition to about two dozen mobile phones denoting the dangerous level of sophistication.

“As some of the videos already in the public domain clearly show, we made some chilling discoveries on storming the property with security operatives, including several guns and suspected kidnappers, whom the security agents were able to apprehend,” he said.

Apology?

Meanwhile, there are reports on Sunday that the skit maker has apologised to the governor for the video clip claiming he was misinformed and influenced by his emotions to make the allegations.

But PREMIUM TIMES could not independently confirm the development at the moment.

(NAN)