By ALEX ENEBELI

The Enugu State Government has refuted trending videos of alleged indiscriminate demolition of property at the Enugu Centenary City, saying the originators of the video tried to demarket the state for investment.

Aka Eze Aka, the State Commissioner for Information, and the Executive Chairman, Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), Mr Uche Anya, stated this when they took newsmen round the demolished building that housed suspected kidnappers on Saturday in Enugu.

The government said it only demolished illegal and uncompleted structures, which served as kidnappers’ hideout, stressing that it was yet to demolish any of the unapproved structures in the area.

They added that the action of the (ECTDA) in collaboration with security agencies underscored its commitment to the security of lives and property, protection of investments and contracts with investors.

The duo were reacting to the trending video posted by a Social Media influencer on Saturday alleging that Enugu Government demolished over 200 buildings at Enugu Centenary City and appealed to Gov. Peter Mbah to stop further demolition of more property in the estate.

Addressing newsmen, Aka said: “What we saw in the trending video today was an attempt by the originators to demarket Enugu State as an investment destination for Real Estate development.

“But in reality the operation by ECTDA and the security agencies was a testament that government is resolved to rid the state of criminal elements and protect property rights and investments in the state.

“You are all aware of the distance we travelled from the city to get to this place. 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.”

On the allegations by a content creator on the social media, the Commissioner said: “When the person, who was on the video began to talk about trying to destroy his house and so on, it is important to state that 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,” Aka said.

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

He explained that ECTDA Law prohibited carrying out any development or municipal service within the capital territory without the written approval of the Authority.

“For the avoidance of doubts, Section 13 (1) of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority Law, 2009, provides:

“‘Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, as from the commencement of this Law, no person or body shall carry out any development or municipal service within the Capital Territory, unless such development or municipal service has been approved in writing by the Authority,” he said.

He said the current ECTDA leadership 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.

“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 Jan. 19 operation was based on an intelligence report about an illegal property that served as 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, PTZ cameras, in addition to about two dozens of mobile phones denoting the dangerous level of sophistication.

“As some of the videos already in 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. (NAN)

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