Shortly after Iyikwu River, along Enugu-Nsukka Road, lies 115.710 hectares of land, now designated as Himalayas Estate by Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, ESHDC.

The expanse of land was surveyed and found to contain 2,080 plots of land belonging to Amankpaka-Ugwogo community.

It was proposed for residential and commercial purposes and awarded to one Dr. Frank Chukwu in 2014 by the community.

A Certificate of Occupancy (C-of-O) was obtained in the name of Amankpaka community but held on behalf of the community by Chukwu.

Unfortunately, these properties are now subjects of not less than five litigations in different courtrooms of Enugu State High Court.

A youth leader in Amankpaka community, Mr. Chibuzor Ugwuede, who reported the matter to Sunday Vanguard, said the issue was brought up at the general meeting of the community held at the home of the oldest man in Amankpaka, Chief Crescent Ede, on July 28, 2020.

Ugwuede narrated that: “Both male and female members of the community gathered there and the matter of our only valuable land along Ugwuogo-Enugu road came up. The land is close to the Iyikwu River, opposite Federal Government Housing Estate. Government came into this land because of the attitude of some people from our community.

“This matter started in 2014 when one Dr. Frank Chukwu came to Amankpaka in search of an expanse of land and the community negotiated with him and went through due process. It was handled by the General Assembly of our community, made up of a 12-man caretaker committee. We deliberated on the amount and the number of plots came up to 115 hectares of land. We made a Deed of Assignment as well as an irrevocable Power of Attorney and a Memorandum of Understanding. We asked him to get a C-of-O for the land.

“Towards the end of 2015, Dr. Chukwu got the C-of -O in the name of his company but our people said they will prefer the C- of- O to bear the name of the community instead of Chukwu’s company. In April 2016, the C-of-O was granted in the name of Amankpaka, The name was changed from the previous title. It was agreed that Chukwu will be in the custody of the original document.

“Chukwu kept the original C-of-O in Amankpaka’s name and another Memorandum of Understanding was done because of the new C-of-O. The man sincerely came and told our people that he paid only N5 million out of N1.2 billion, stating that he is a businessman. He said after selling portions of the land, he will pay the outstanding. It was agreed and stated in the MoU by both parties.

“As promised, Chukwu brought buyers for the land but some people inserted a caveat, stopping him from selling the land. This was their decision and not the decision of the community. The community asked Chukwu to sell their land. While Chukwu was searching for a buyer, the Chairman of the Power of Attorney, Gab Onu and the chief of the community, Damian Ede, said they had given it to Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, ESHDC. We asked them why they acted in that manner.

“The community said the land still belongs to Chukwu, insisting that if the ESHDC wants the land, it should go through Chukwu. This matter dragged toA July 28, 2020, when bulldozers were moved into the land and we all assembled at the house of the oldest man where we all wept and condemned the action. The oldest man said what was done amounted to sacrilege.

“That was how the Housing Corporation came in there. We wrote a pre-action notice to the Housing Corporation and the state government, pleading with them to come to the community for negotiation. But the Housing Corporation ignored the community.

“Amankpaka decided that instead of the ESHDC to take over the land since Chukwu wasted time in paying for it, some portions should be used to settle Chukwu while the remaining plots should be shared to sons of Amankpaka.”

However, in his reaction, the Managing Director of Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, ESHDC, Mr. Chiemelie Agu, said the corporation does not involve itself in land controversies, saying many communities are willing to donate lands to government.

Agu said: “We are commercialized and we can’t take away anybody’s property. What we do is to negotiate and engage communities to invest and become partners in the progress. We have communities that have partnered with us to develop estates. I have mentioned about 16 estates and they were donated by communities and none of them has ever complained. We don’t buy properties. You donate your property and we give a certain percentage of the developed area back to the community. If they want to sell it, when they sell it, they will make more money from that 20 percent than selling the whole parcel at maybe N500, 000 each.

“When we put our infrastructure of over N700 million they might sell it at over N10 million and that 20 or whatever percent would have fetched them more than they would’ve got selling the whole property. So the speculation about land grabbing and all that doesn’t concern us because we have a whole lot of properties to develop. And if you don’t want, we walk away and continue with what we have.”

When contacted, Chukwu said the matter is in court and would prefer not to comment but to wait for the court’s verdict.

The community’s Chairman, Power of Attorney, Chief Gab Onu, however, said Chukwu never bought any land from Amankpaka.

“We don’t have any problem with Chukwu. He approached the community in 2014 as a facilitator to help us sell our land. I was still the chairman at the time. We gave him Power of Attorney and a MoU for seven months but he couldn’t meet up after which we handed the land over to government. The matter is in court anyway,” Onu said.

Lawyer to Amankpaka community, Mr. Emeka Abah, said Chukwu has been joined in the suit, adding that Enugu State High court resumed hearing on the matter on November 11, 2021.

(Vanguard)

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