By Onuchukwu Hamilton
When the unknown and known gunmen turned the State into a theater of war in 2022 that the safest place for the Dick and Hary to hide was anywhere in Owerri territory, even strangers that were facing same scenario in other States of the Southeast geopolitical zone, equally started moving to Owerri, I decided to visit the then Boss of Owerri Capital Development Authority(OCDA) Engr. Chukwu to know if the crowd influx , is in conformity with the Master Plan and the foundation laid by Commander Ndubuisi Kanu, Adekunle Lawal, Col. Sunday Adenihu, Brig Ike Nwachukwu, Anthony Oguguo, Navy Captain James Aneke and Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe. The out come of my discussion with Chukwu on the dangers of this sudden population explosion, leave no doubt that things have actually fallen apart in the territory as it was obvious that landgrabbing and degrees of crime will characterize the territory. That there will be a time in the future when the Children of Owerri ancestral villages will rise without a space to structure a home for themselves. History will then tell them that they have become Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) because their grand fathers and the then Government in power traded with their ancestral lands for a piece of meal. Rumors peddle that what is left, to be sold as land in Owerri, is the cemeteries. The issue of vacating their tenants as to bury a dead person in such a living room, is now a worrisome report as there is problem space in Owerri.
The problem associated with refugees and internally displaced persons arises as a result of their displacement from their habitual places of residence. These are people who are uprooted from their homes and they thereby loose access to their accustomed livelihoods. The second paragraph of Article 1 of the African Convention exlains that the term refugee or IDP, shall also apply to every person who, owing to external aggression, occupation, or foreign domination or event seriously disturbing public order in either part of his country or origin or nationality, is compelled to leave his place of habitual residence to seek refuge in another place.One should not be averse to developmental ideas nor against the fact that man is destined to live in a state of his choice, but beyond the economic ends, the function of a state should be to ensure the supreme good of man, to preserve life for families and villages in accordance with the needs of mankind. These paramount needs, cannot just be these hotels, brothels, nude clubs and fuel stations decorating Owerri. The spaces in the original master plan for factories, industries and habitation have either been converted to criminal hideouts or missappropriated. What a shame!!
However, this piece was necessitated by the demands from some quarters that the Imo State House of Assembly member for Owerri State Constituency and House Committee Chairman for Lands ,Hon. Kanayo Onyemaechi and other decision makers in the State Ministry of Lands should also be arrested and prosecuted like,the then of Lands Commissioner, Hon. Noble Atulegwu, Nze Chinansa Nwaneri, and Mrs. Love Ineh who are currently at arms length for alleged involvement in illegal land deals. One may remember such media Headlines reports like; President Obasanjo’s Shopping Mall: Communities Cry To Governor Uzodimma To Intervene over Alleged Land Grabbing, Uzodimma Orders Arrest of ISAMATA Chairman over Alleged Land Grabbing, Extortion; Uzodimma Decries Shady Deals on Land Administration in Imo, Police Arrest Uzodimma Closest And Four Others Over Alleged Land Frauds, How Armed Men Whisked Away, Uzodimma’s Former Aide Chinansa Nwaneri over Alleged Land Racketeering, Forgery of Certificates of Occupancy and Worst, the Governor’s Signature. Although, the media noted that Nwaneri’s degree of involvement in all these crime , is yet ascertained but the scandal led to the removal of these personalities from their offices except the House Committee Chairman on Lands, Hon. Onyemaechi . While those personalities who feel that the name Onyemaechi is sabotaging their illegal land grabbing business are smouldering to indict him as an accomplice in the deals, Many are saying that the Governor should see those sponsoring attack on Hon. Onyemaechi as real enemies of the State and betrayers like Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ for pieces of silver. They appeal to the Governor to wash off his hands like the Pontius Pilate washed his own hands in front of the people who want to kill Jesus Christ. These his people, are proud of his achievements as a legislator and Land Committee Chairman especially with the recovery of the land mapped in 1976 for the construction of Owerri Central Market Complex which was stalled for a very long time as a result of many challenges including illegal balkanization.
Reacting on the call for his arrest, Hon. Onyemaechi vowed that he was never involved in any land matters with the former Commissioner. That when this Commissioner had issues in a village called Okwukwu, which led to the arrest and detention of Okwukwu people, in Tiger base for seven days, himself brokered peace between them and the Commissioner. Meanwhile at press time there is no official indictment report against HON. Onyemaechi aka.Egbe.
