…says Ozalla Abor elders distanced self from the false and defamatory publication
The people of Ugwunani Abor Autonomous Community in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu state has described as ‘false and mischievous’, a publication made by the people of Ozalla Abor Autonomous Community on Sun newspaper on May 27, 2021, wherein they declared ‘Caveat Emptor’ on a parcel of land.
In a statement jointly signed by the Chairman and Secretary of Ugwunani Progressive Union for Ugwunani Abor Autonomous Community, Pastor Chibuzo Ngwudile and Chief Ignatius Aneke, respectively, the people of Ugwunani Abor condemned in its entirety the “infamous and malicious publication by some faceless, desperate and mischievous persons, describing it as provocative and done with the intention to disparage the good people of Ugwunani Abor, the Government of Enugu State and some persons of good reputation, as well as, fanning the embers of disunity between Ugwunani and Ozalla Abor Autonomous Communities.”
Reacting to the said publication, the people of Ugwunani Abor advised the “desperate mischievous persons who are behind this criminal act of malice and character defamation to be aware of the cordial relationship existing between Ugwunani and Ozalla Abor Autonomous Communities as it concerns the said parcel of land.”
The Ugwunani Abor community stated that they are the legitimate ownership of the land “which has been rightly declared to be so by various arbitrary bodies including Ojebe Ogene Clan, Oha Abor and Enugu State Civil Rights and Mediation Centre.”
According to Ugwunani Progressive Union, “we wish to remind the shameless mischief makers that in the year 1958, in a suit instituted between Ugwunani Abor and Nokpa Nike, a judgement was delivered by the High Court of the then Eastern Region of Nigeria in Suit No: E/46/57: OZO NWAFOR VS EDWARD NNAJI, in which the judgement unequivocally declared Title to a large parcel of land which Ozalla Abor’s purported Villa Estate forms part of it to belong to Ugwunani People.
“For several decades of years, ever since the judgement, we the people of Ugwunani Abor have been using this land undisturbed and indeed all the parcels of the subject-matter of the said Suit.
“However, Ugwunani will not want to react to any pre-action notice since none was served to it, and our cursory investigation clearly revealed that none was served to the Commissioner for Housing Development Corporation that is granted but not conceded, because there is no such office nor designate name in existence at the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation.
“We want to, at this juncture, stress with resounding emphasis to the general public, that to the full knowledge of Ozalla Abor, the Ugwunani Abor Community had entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Enugu State in respect to the parcels of land which the so-called Villa Estate evidently forms part of and the Traditional Ruler of Abor Ancient Community HRH Igwe Chukwudi Ngwudile (Agodom III of Abor) having embedded in the history of the parcels of land therein gave his Royal blessings to the MoU.
“The general public should know that we vehemently detest this inglorious acts that have led to this obviously injurious publication by this shameless mischief makers orchestrated by the so-called Onyechi J.N with the futile mission of luring and defrauding some unsuspecting property developers.
“Meanwhile, we commend the Elders and Stakeholders of Ozalla Abor Autonomous Community who had earlier distanced themselves on behalf of Ozalla Abor Community from this act and strongly condemned this malicious and erroneous publication aimed at bamboozling the general public into disparaging Enugu State Government as well as the hard-earned reputation of the person of Engr. Chukwuemelie Agu, the General Manager of Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, even as we have, in compliance with the due dictates of legal practice, forwarded a copy of the offending publication to our legal team for their perusal for the purpose of ensuring that the needful is quickly done to apply the full strength of the law and fish out the culprit for prosecution.”
