The Anambra State Government has brought down the structure of a lawyer despite that the said owner placed huge coffins and various charms on the building.
The charms were allegedly attached to the building to scare men of the task force from carrying out their demolition exercise, which proved abortive.
The land, which had been fenced and situated near the Governor’s Lodge Onitsha, was said to belong to the unidentified lawyer.
A source said, “The lawyer is claiming that the land belongs to his family having reverted to the family after a 100-year lease agreement with the Federal Government.
“According to the lawyer, the land in question is subject to a leasehold of 1910 and 1945 between the Federal Government and his family, which yielded back to the family a reversionary interest in 2009 and the Federal Government released the land to his family.
“He said the Federal Government released the first one on July 13, 2013, and later released the other in 2019.”
Speaking after the exercise, the Chairman, of Anambra State Physical Planning Board, Chike Maduekwe, who led the task force, said no amount of “intimidation” would make the state government not reclaim the land which he said was designated for judges’ quarters.
Maduekwe insisted that the state government had made it clear that the parcel of land was designated for judges’ quarters and had started developing the site, wondering why the lawyer, whom he described as an “interloper”, would continue to trespass on the land.
The state government recently embarked on an aggressive demolition of illegal structures in Onitsha and its environs. Some of the affected buildings include the Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry in Onitsha owned by Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, a.k.a Odumeje.
