Governor’s aide, 5 others arraigned in court for allegedly demolishing 94-year-old man’s house in Ebonyi

 By Adoga Michael Oyi

An appointee of Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi state, one Mr Chukwuma Igwe who is the Coordinator of Ezeukwa Development Centre in Onicha local government area was on Friday arraigned in court for allegedly demolishing a house and a fence belonging to a 94-year-old man in the state.
According to the victim, Pa Omabe Obini, the demolished house and the fence worth over N15million.
Igwe, 49, was dragged to court by the Ebonyi state police command along other five suspects; Ejiuwaka Igwe,
Okoronkwo Nwinyinya, Stanley Ejiofor, Chinedu Igwe and Joel Okorie.
The suspects were said to have carried out the demolition of Omabe’s building on 30th March 2018 and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 451 of the Criminal Code Cap 33 vol. 1 Laws of Ebonyi state, 2009.
The accused demolished Omabe’s building at Uwani Anike village. The demolition was allegedly carried out by nine suspected thugs under the supervision of the Coordinator.
The suspects were arraigned on four count charge.

After the charges were read to their understanding, they pleaded not guilty.
They were, however, granted bail while the matter was adjourned to 3rd May, 2018 for hearing.
Meanwhile, Omabe had alleged that the suspected thugs in company of Igwe invaded his compound with axe, digger and cutlass and chased away members of his family before embarking on the demolition of his building and a
section of his perimeter fencing.
He paraded a 30 minutes video clip to journalists to prove his allegations, adding that this was the second time the coordinator was sponsoring such attack against his property in the village.
Pa Omabe who said he has reported the matter to the police, appealed to the state government and human right activists to intervene into the matter.
He lamented that his health condition had worsened following the demolition.
He said there was no basis for the action considering that he had no land dispute between members of the community or the traditional ruler.
In a swift reaction, Igwe who said he was the Chairman of Anike General Assembly said what was demolished was Pa Obini’s perimeter fencing which constituted boundary between him and Umu Anike.
He alleged that the decision to demolish the building was taken by the Anike General Assembly following Pa Obini’s refusal to appear before it for violating the resolution on the disputed boundary.