FAMILY MEMBERS APPEAL TO GOVERNOR UZODINMA FOR URGENT INTERVENTION
BY ECHEREOZO AUSTIN
The serene community of UMUEKWEMA umualum NEKEDE . A suburb of owerri capital territory in owerri west has been engulfed with pandemonium and confusion following the demolition notice being served to the bereaved family of late senior apostle Augustine UKAEGBU who happens. to be a devoted member of cherubim and seraphim and also a retiree of the Nigerian custom and services. The said building is located at number 11 bus stop old road NEKEDE.
The matter came to a head when some staffers of the owerri capital development authority (OCDA) stormed the area and marked the two storey building for demolition upon serving them demolition notice. The notice has generated great controversy and panic among family members . Youths, and the entire NEKEDE community.
Narrating their displeasure recently to newsmen, the eldest surviving member of UKAEGBU family PA UZOEGWU UKAEGBU expressed shock over the demolition news and he refer to it as a sacrilege and what he described as desecretion of ancestral family house. Elder UKAEGBU hinted that his late brother was a peaceful man and a devoted christian who used his entire life to serve humanity and helped a lot of people especially the poor. He regrets that some people has conspired to embarrass his family now that he is no more. The old man stated that what is important to him now is how to give his brother a befitting burial and not the demolition plan which will only end up tearing the family apart. He went further to state that any athempt to demolish his late brother’s house may plung the family into unending crises.
Pa UKAEGBU is now calling on the executive governor of imo state senator Hope UZODINMA to as a matter of urgency intervene in this matter so as to avert looming crises that may arise from the demolition order. In another development a youth leader in NEKEDE community who choose to speak on condition of anonymity told jounalist that late apostle Augustine UKAEGBU was a very generous man who helped numerous NEKEDE youths to secure employment at custom and other paramilitary agencies. Also stating that it is a show of disrespect if some one is nursing the ambition to demolish the late man,s legacy being it his children or who so ever. He stated that the building is a monumental identity which stands as rememberance to the late icon. He concluded by saying that NEKEDE youths will not fold their hands and watch their brothers property pulled down just like that
However. as it stands now there is serious tension in the polygamous family of Apostle UKAEGBU as the first son from his second wife Mr Emmanuel UKAEGBU alleging that his half brothers and their sister who happens to be children from the first wife are the ones planning to render them homeless by trying to demolish their only father’s house. According to Mr Emmanuel, the problem started shortly after their fathers demise because his eldest brother and the first son from the first wife by name Godspower UKAEGBU and his mother Mrs Grace took control of his father’s body and moved him away from the first mortuary which every member of the family agreed with to another mortuary where only him and his mother can have access to thereby denying every other member of the family to have access. Emmanuel accused Godspower of trying to use officials of OCDA to demolish their fathers house of which a demolition notice has been signed and that his brother is very much aware that they don’t have any other place to go or to run to especially now that they are planning the burial.
Emmanuel went further to narrate that their are a lot of contradictions in the demolition notice as there were two different signatures which make the notice appear inconsistent .He disclosed that his major priority is to plan a befitting burial for his father. He also stressed that his mother Mrs Stella UKAEGBU took very good care of their father till the last day he died , also stating that his mother is a peace lover and has been preaching for the unity of all the members of UKAEGBU family.
When contacted, the general manager of OCDA Hon Nkemakolam frankline Nzewodo confirmed being approached by Mr Godspower UKAEGBU for the demolition of the building citing dilapidating state of the house and the GM admitted that the demolition notice emanated from his office on demand from the first son .meanwhile, the OCDA general manager hinted that it will be proper to hear from the late mans second wife Mrs Stella and his own son Emmanuel.
