A chieftain of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Richard Ozobu, has petitioned President Bola Tinubu over an alleged attempt to sell plots of lands belonging to the National Museum, Enugu.

In the petition, Ozobu, who is a former board member of the National Commission for Museums and Monuments, told the President that he had drawn the attention of the authorities of the Enugu museum to the situation, but his complaint was ignored.

He alleged that land grabbers had used bulldozers and other earth moving equipment to demolish buildings, stalls and scattering monuments on the property which belongs to the federal government.

Ozobu lamented that the only interest of the land grabbers is to secretly appropriate the museum land at Ogui junction, Enugu and enrich themselves against the interest of the museum, the federal government and posterity.

He said; “I have been inundated with phone calls and visits from concerned citizens of Enugu state about the surreptitious plan to appropriate the Enugu museum land and littering of its artifacts on the harsh weather. As a former member of the National Commission for Museum and Monuments, I represent the interest of some aggrieved and concerned citizens of Enugu State, in this issue of misappropriation of Enugu Museum land.

”I reached out to the DG, National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Prof.Isa Tijani, but he responded without making any meaningful thing out of my complaint. The Enugu museum land has been preserved for generational advancement of the museum, and shouldn’t be sold off, but the land grabbers have used bulldozers to start demolishing buildings, stalls and artifacts of a federal government property in Enugu. I filed the statutory pre-action through my lawyer, but they gave no satisfactory answer and evaded the needed information about the land. It’s shocking that no Director of the NCMM is aware of this transaction. They have gone to museum land at Ogui junction and parcellated into plots and named it MOK museum estate with the intention to sell it to themselves.

“The curator of the Enugu museum in a bid to suppress my pre-action issued a press release and gave that impression that the federal government concessioned the Enugu museum land for 25 years. But we are yet to confirm this claim.”

The Ohanaeze chieftain urged Tinubu to investigate the parcellation of the Enugu museum land and if possible, revoke the alleged acquisition. (Saturday Vanguard)

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