When few weeks ago, the Enugu state commissioner for land and Urban Development Dr. Victor Nnam resigned his appointment, stating that his conscience will no longer permit him to continue to serve the governor after the heads of departments under his then ministry were removed by the governor on punishment ground for simply doing the right thing, a friend rightly predicted that it appears someone in the highest office in the state tried to do something manifestly corrupt using the commissioner and his heads of the departments for which they refused, and that if that is true, the government will soon dance naked by trying to find a way to do whatever the commissioner and his team have objected to now that they are out of the way.
Just as he predicted, voom! One Kenneth Ugwueze mischievously tried to vilify the commissioner, and make the public believe that he and his group (NULGE) were victims of illegality by the commissioner and tried so hard in vain to persuade the public to believe that Dr. Nnam resigned to avoid being sacked for giving a land belonging to NULGE to a Real Estate Developer, HYMAC REAL LTD. However those tissues of lies were discarded by the public following an exposition by the Concern Enugu Professionals, who among other thing clearly stated that Mr. Kenneth Ugwueze was simply being used by someone in the highest office in the state to wrestle the land belonging to HYMAC in the name of NULGE and that Hymac Real Ltd has filed a suit against NULGE since 15th of September but that NULGE has been unable to put a reply because it has no title. It further stated that after Mr. Kenneth and his NULGE were served, they ran back to the ultimate beneficiary of their fraudulent scheme and he summoned the commissioner with his heads of the department and ordered them to permit Kenneth to plant forged documents and to equally destroy HYMAC title for which they humbly pleaded with him to understand that that will put them into trouble even after his government. It was for refusal to do so that the heads of the departments were all removed and the commissioner resigned in protest against their removal.
What followed was that Kenneth and co, instead of answering to the suit against them in the High Court, resorted to all manners of malicious publications against the former commissioner in an efforts to create alternative truth and manipulate the public minds into confusion so as to enable them rob the innocent investor of his land. But the discerning public saw through their subterfuge as many group that spoke on the matter simply asked Kenneth and co to go to Court. Nevertheless, the urge to dance naked in the public was still so strong in the ultimate beneficiary of this fraudulent adventure by Kenneth and Co that he ordered that a house belonging to the former Commissioner should be marked for demolition. It was greeted with overwhelming outcry that they were forced to backtrack. Yet, the Attorney General of the state, file a motion in the High Court seeking to be joined in the case between Hymac Real Ltd (plaintiff) and Kenneth & co (defendents) who have stated clearly that they don’t have title to the land.
Finally as they found out that they are not going to ever stand a chance in the court since the matter before the court is difficult to manipulate, the Government through Mr Chidi Aroh, issued a statement on 16th of November purporting to allocate the land which is the subject matter of suit no. E/658 in High Court of Enugu State to Kenneth and Co and instructed them to start building immediately. It is now clear to even a fool that someone is hell bent in using everything within his executive power in an attempt to usurp the judicial power of the court and abuse its power in order to accomplish his determined land fraud. What comes to mind as this show of Executive power drunkenness continues is the story of King Abab in 1st Kings Chapter 21, where he desired a piece of Land belong to a poor Israelite named Naboth and when Naboth refused to sell the land to him, he went all out for it and soiled his hands, and God because of that wiped out Ahab’s family eventually. The government can no longer hide its plan to fraudulently take a land belonging to a private developer and give it to the power that be and it seems now that there is no limit to what it can do to achieve that, ranging from the removal of the Professionals heads of departments in the ministry of land, to demolition of the commissioner’s house, and now to usurp the judicial power of the court contemptuously. The truth remains that the Government lacks the power to take land from one party and give another after the parties have submitted themselves to a court of competent jurisdiction to determine the ownership question until the full determination of all issues relating to that land before the court. Everyone knows that the matter is sub judice, and not even the Governor has any right to discuss the matter.
However, when our correspondents contact the Secretary of Hymac Real LTD, Barr. John S. Uzoigwe for the company’s reactions on the matter,he told us that the company has resolved (1) never to comment on the matter as it is subjudice and, (2) not to join issues with the Government of Gov. Ugwuanyi on the pages of newspapers. He said the MD being a fervent Christian, deeply respects the office of the Governor unconditionally, and as an Nsukka man, he will never join issues with his elder brother (Governor) on the pages of newspapers even if the matter was not in court. He however said that Hymac as a company has an abiding faith in the judiciary and the rule of law and don’t want to preempt the court.
