Residents of Abakaliki Lane, Government Reservation Area GRA Enugu, were thrown into apprehension in the early hours Wednesday, as armed Soldiers numbering over 40 attached to the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army Enugu, invaded the residence of a Retired officer, Colonel Emeka Ugwuoke, and forcefully ejected him and family out of his apartment .
He said the heavily armed soldiers stormed the house at about 1:15am, and manhandled the wife and children before throwing them out of the apartment without court injunction.
Col. Ugwuoke, who retired in 2022, was the former Coordinator Of Joint Intelligence Fusion Cell of operation Hadarin Daji, Zamfara State .
The Soldiers, alleged to be acting on directives of the General Officer Commanding, GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army Enugu, Major General, Aminu Chinade destroyed some of the Ugwuoke’s properties in the house and also littered some along the street, 2km away from the house.
Addressing Newsmen, Colonel Ugwuoke disclosed that the said property had been monetized to him by its original owner; ‘Enugu state government’, adding that he already have the papers but the GOC refused to attend to him concerning the acquisition of the property.
He regretted that the Soldiers invaded his home when he was not around.
“Sometimes in 2008, the Enugu state government wanted to take over the state property that Nigerian Army personnel were occupying, and I am living in one of them. I wanted to benefit from it and the division said I should meet my state so that if they give me, that’s okay.
“I wrote several applications to the state government and in 2014, the then governor, Sullivan Chime approved my application. I couldn’t further the process because I was away until 2015 and that was in a critical period when attention was drawn to politics only.
“When the new governor came, he said I should hold on, that there are series of committees to verify those things, which eventually ended and I was given papers of the apartment.
“My colleagues understood this, until 2020 when a certain GOC came around and told me that he wanted to use the place as a guest house. And started claiming that it belonged to the Federal Government, but the matter was addressed and he left it.
“He set up series of committees that said the property belonged to the Federal Government but we knew he was influencing them.
“Nothing was heard again until November last year when GOC sent 20 soldiers to my house to come and remove my things but after some intervention from senior colleagues they left.
“On March 15, 2023, they wrote to me and asked me to pack out within 2 weeks, despite my presentation of papers and approvals from the state.
“As I traveled to the village for burial yesterday, 11th of April, by 1:15 am this morning, 12th of April, my daughter called me because my wife was not around, she was in the hospital and my daughter said that about 40 soldiers invaded our house and trying to forcefully open the door before my house help opened the door.
”They were harassing and beating my children telling them to park their things.
“They started packing my things outside, you can see them here before my wife drove from the hospital around 2:00 am and two female soldiers beat her up on her arrival dragging her to go out of the compound.
“I tried to make a call to them to know the problem, I have written to the Chief of Army Staff and I have not gotten a response.
He said he put calls to some army quarters, asking “Why are you invading my house and nobody is ready to listen to me.
“I came down to Enugu from Nsukka this morning and to the greatest surprise of my life, I saw that Soldiers actually invaded my house and destroyed my properties.
“You can see the air condition, television set, everything destroyed and they came and keep it here on the street, 2km away from my house,” he lamented.
When asked if he has reached the state government over the Nigeria Army claims, Ugwuoke, said the state government was surprised at the claims by Nigeria Army when he reported the situation to them.
“I have a paper to show where the Nigeria Army acknowledged that the property belonged to the state government, Written by Army itself and signed by one Major general on behalf of the Chief of Army Staff”.
He however, pleaded with the Chief of Army staff to intervene and show that the place belongs to State government and that it has been monetized to him by the state government.
Efforts by our Correspondent to speak with the Assistant Director, Army public Relations, 82 Division, Enugu Col., Eromosele Unuakhalu was not fruitful, as his mobile phone was Switched off as at the time of filing this report.
However, a Source at the Div who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Ugwuoke was occupying the quarter illegally, saying they knew he would like to seek sympathy hence their decision to record everything that happened today.
The source claimed that Ugwuoke, was ejected last year and he refused to leave , adding that the army will not accept somebody trying to acquire it’s property illegally.
”Why can’t the retired Colonel respect himself and quit the property rather than seeking unnecessary sympathy”
