Over 4,000 traders and sand workers displaced by the demolition exercise carried out by the Anambra State government through the Onitsha South Local Government Area authorities have accused the local government of reallocating their lands to the highest bidders.
The victims, including sand miners, traders, shop owners and occupants, whose structures at Ndende community, situated along Niger Street, Fegge in Onitsha, were earlier demolished in March, also called on the Anambra State Police Commissioner, CP Nnaghe Itam, and the Assistant Inspector General of Police, AIG, Zone 13, Ukpo, ASP Victor Agbaulor, to intervene in the situation to avert the possible breakdown of law and order that may result from further activities of government officials on the said land.
The displaced angry traders and sand workers told our source that since they were displaced by the state government in March through the demolition of their shops, and houses and destruction of sand beaches, the Onitsha South Local Government authorities have been allocating the spaces to people who paid them and they have turned the remaining space to market place and car park where they collect money daily from the users.
Housingtv gathered that no fewer than 1,600 shops and structures were destroyed at Ndende land, along Niger Street, in March, thereby displacing over 4,000 occupants.
The exercise was said to be supervised by the then Onitsha South Local Government Transition Chairman, Emeka Oriji, who was recently elected as the substantive Chairman.
Addressing journalists before the angry protesters in Onitsha, on Monday, their counsel, Ifeyinwa Onyekwelu, wondered why the Anambra State government would destroy the people’s structures and sand beaches where they do business, live and work, only to turn around to reallocate the spaces to traders while turning the remaining spaces to motor parks where they collect money on daily basis from car owners who park there.
Onyekwelu said the displaced traders and sand workers decided not to take laws into their own hands when their landlord went to the Federal High Court, Awka, to contest the demolition of their structures and their ejection from the land and the matter has been pending in the court since March 2024, while they have been patient for the law to take its course.
One of the displaced victims, identified as Uche Uzor, said the court’s interim injunction permitted them to do their business on the lands, pending the determination of the case, because it has not been vacated, but their landlords instructed them to be patient and not to enter into the land for any activity until the matter is determined.
Uzor said, “We are over 4,000 that were displaced by the state government when they carried out the demolition through the Onitsha South LGA in March. The lands in the area belong to the Federal Government and we are angry that we were illegally ejected by the Anambra State government, through the Onitsha South Local Government authorities who are not even our landlords.
“Our landlords are still in the Federal High Court, Awka, our landlords even secured an interim injunction from Federal High Court, Awka restraining the state government, Attorney General of Anambra State, Emeka Orji (then Chairman Caretaker Committee, Onitsha South Local Government Area) and the Inspector General of Police, in Suit No. FHC/AWK/CS/75/2024, from carrying out any activity on the land.
“The Federal High Court’s interim injunction permits us to be doing our business there pending the determination of the case because it has not been vacated, but our landlords instructed us to be patient and not to enter into the land for any activity until the matter is determined, but the Onitsha South LG authorities turned around and have been reallocating our lands to highest bidders.
“It is, however, the height of injustice and disrespect to the order of the Federal High Court, Awka for the Onitsha South Local Government Area authority or anybody working for the Anambra State government, to enter into the land to do any business, including collecting money and allocating the space to traders and using the remaining for motor parks where they collect money every day from people for cars parked there.
“We are angry that we have been patient and our businesses suffering, while our families are going hungry, while Onitsha South Local Government authority that does not own the land will be allocating it to people and collecting money from them when the matter is still pending in the Federal High Court Awka.
“We have complained to our landlords, Lake Petroleum Limited, who took the state government to court over the demolition of our shops and other structures, as well as our ejection from the land and they told us to be patient and not to take laws into our hands. We cannot continue to keep quiet while intruders allocate our space to people who pay them.
“We cannot keep quiet while people like us on the authorities of strangers who call themselves government officials forcefully eject us and allocate our space to people who are not even known to our landlords, after the destruction of our properties. We will not accept that other people around us in the area are doing business preparing for Christmas and New Year.
“We are therefore urging the Anambra State Police Command and the Zone 13 Police Zonal Command, Ukpo, Dunukofia Local Government of the state to stop the Onitsha South Local Government Area authorities or any Anambra State government official from performing further activities on the Ndende land, which case is still pending in the Federal High Court Awka, to avoid breakdown of law and order.”
Another victim, Nkiru Obinwa, lamented that the continuous reallocation of their lands to other people amounted to “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, insisting that it was illegal for the Onitsha South LG authorities to do so.
He said, “Allowing anybody to do any business there or collecting any kind of toll there for Onitsha South Local Government authorities or Anambra State government, amounts to ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. Onitsha South Local Government Area or the Anambra State government are not our landlords, we have done business there for over 40 years, no government in the state has done what the current government in the state is doing to us and we are not happy about that.
“Seeing people who are not supposed to be there doing business, while we are told to wait for the court to determine the matter is painful and unacceptable, it arouses our anger. The Police should intervene to avert a crisis on the land by ejecting everybody there until the matter is finally determined at the court where it is still pending.
“It is ironic that our landlords who have a valid order of the Federal High Court, Awka, against the state government, have maintained law and order, and have avoided entering into the land, waiting patiently for the court to determine the fundamental case it instituted against the state government, yet the state is entering into the land and trying to cause breakdown of law and order in the land. Police in the state should act now. A word is enough for the wise.”
However, when contacted over the development, the Secretary of Onitsha South LGA, Paul Onuachala, denied all the allegations of reallocating the said land, saying, “There is no iota of truth in their allegations,” even as he insisted that the said lands belong to the Onitsha South LGA.
Onuachala said, “The land belongs to the Onitsha South LG and it is called Ndende and Oseogbuijo markets. It is a river-bound market. Now, if you go to the Fourth Schedule of the Nigerian constitution as amended, you will see that parks and markets are under the local government’s exclusive control.
“If the Federal Government wants to establish markets, they must subject it to local government regulations and that is the same way the state government has rights over land.
“As far as the issue of reallocation is concerned, there is no iota of truth in their allegations. Anybody claiming ownership of the land should show us proof. Have any of them shown you CofO or proof of allocation? Or if it is an inherited land, they should also tell us how their forefathers acquired the place.
“It is not true, we have not reallocated the land to anybody and as far as we are concerned that place is going to be a public place as it has been, the market will be retained there, some parts will be turned into recreational centres as we have in beaches, where people can go and relax.
“If the people ejected are claiming ‘injustice,’ they should also remember the ‘injustice’ they have done to Onitsha South LG within the period they were mining sand there. On several occasions, we have told them to be responsible for their environment, but they ignored that, so what are they trying to say?”
Source: Punchng
