Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has challenged the Enugu State Governor, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, to publicly state his official position on the alleged illegal attempt by his Housing Commissioner, Vitus Okechi, to usurp the statutory duty of a separate sister Ministry on the ownership of the ancestral land in Ugwuaji, Enugu South Local Government Area of the state.

In a media statement it issued against the backdrop of the reported visit by some members of the State House of Assembly on the prompting of the Housing Commissioner to the ancestral land of Ugwuaji Community the rights group expressed shock that the visit happened when a judicial inquisition over the ownership of the land is ongoing.

HURIWA said its attention was called to the alleged illegality by some of the people whose ancestral lands are on the verge of been grabbed by alleged land speculators.

The rights group, through its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, and the National Media Affairs Director, Ms Zainab Yusuf, said the inaction of Governor Ugwuanyi to checkmate the alleged reckless abuse of office by his Housing Commissioner has graphically painted him as a weak leader who watches on as land grabbers attempt to deprive some Enugu people of their lands illegally.

Besides, HURIWA wondered why the Enugu state governor who inaugurated the panel on the same land has watched as the Housing Commissioner seeks to impose a fait accompli on the judicial panel even as the State Government had in a public notice published last November overruled the illegal attempt by the Commissioner to allegedly collude with land speculators to take over the ancestral lands.

Specifically, in the disclaimer, the Commissioner for Lands Development whose statutory powers covers the issues of land in the State disclaimed the purported layout plan/scheme in circulation.

The Lands Development Ministry said the plan/scheme did not emanate from it nor has its approval, while advising members of the public to ignore the purported New Enugu City Layout plan schedule.

HURIWA recalled that the official disclaimer by the State Government was to publicly denounce an earlier allegedly misdirected public service announcement by the Housing Commissioner who, “as an alleged interloper” on the duties of a separate sister ministry had stated thus:

“The Ministry of Housing, Enugu state, has directed all buyers of Community lands behind GOSHEN Estate and around former ESWAMA Refuse Dump Site at Independence Layout Enugu, to summit all their genuine necessary documents related to the land transactions to the Office of the Commissioner for Housing at the State Secretariat Complex not later than one month from the date of this announcement.”

“Besides, in an exercise of illegality and futility, the Ministry of Housing has set up a standing Review Committee comprising the Ministry, a team lawyers and the concerned communities to verify these documents for any possible resolution and compensation,” HURIWA said.

It therefore appealed to the State Governor to put his house in order and restore stability in policy implementation because the practice of his Housing Commissioner encroaching on the constitutional functions of other agencies and undermining a sitting Judicial Review Panel on the same issue is a gross disincentive to the aggressive campaign by the government to attract foreign investors.

HURIWA recalled that already Enugu indigenes resident in the Russian Federation have petitioned Governor Ugwuanyi over rising cases of land racketeering and their resultant effects.

The rights group stated that in the letter signed by the president of the body, Mr. Emmanuel Moses, the indigenes in Russia complained that in the entire South-East, Enugu State ranks number one in land grabbing.

“They said the practice has become a top menu for government officials, describing it as “nauseating and, to say the least, disgraceful, for individuals who have received the mandate to administer our commonwealth,” HURIWA said.

The rights group also quoted the Diasporan indigenes as threatening to bring the issue to the focus of the international community to this dastardly act, while pledging not to fold our arms and watch this “devilish and wicked act” by the Hon. Commissioner of Housing, go unpunished.

“Let it be known that this parochial act of wickedness cannot be interpreted otherwise. It is a direct affront on our common sensibilities as well as a pure invitation to anarchy and does not in the slightest of ways portray any regard for the dignity of human rights and civility.

“We are more than convinced, beyond reasonable doubt that, Your Excellency, the Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, whom we have high respect and regard for, may not have been properly briefed and addressed on this ongoing saga that has culminated for months, hence this clarion call for you to urgently intervene.

“We remain optimistic that, Your Excellency’s timely intervention will go a long way to quell the already heated tension generated as a result of the misgivings and excessive abuse of office.”

The rights group therefore asked the State Governor to restrain the Commissioner for Housing from the reported alleged lawless attempt to take over the ancestral lands of the good people of Ugwuaji.

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