Association of Ebonyi Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID) has condemned an alleged sale of a landed property belonging to the Ebonyi State government in Lagos.
The said property is located at No. 19A Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way, Maryland, Lagos state.
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Raising the alarm through a statement signed and made available to newsmen Wednesday in Abuja by AESID’s President-General, Ambassador Paschal Oluchukwu, the body said the land, the only property owned by the Ebonyi state government in Lagos state, is a 2-acres of land with an erected and furnished two-storey building situated on it and strategically-located on a highbrow area, directly opposite the Ikeja Military cantonment, Lagos.
Oluchukwu said some Ebonyians occupying the said premises and doing their businesses have made certain unofficial disclosures regarding an alleged plot by someone close to the state government to sell the property in question.
AESID said: “To this end, we have been fully informed about the serving of notices to various occupants of the said property to quit same for the alleged eventual take-over of it by the said buyers of the property whose identities, terms of agreements and rate of purchase have remained a top secret.
“We gathered, therefore, that some of the traders around the area have already complied with the notice by vacating the said premises which had been placed on rent to Coscharis for N50 million annually to the state which helped to shore up the State’s revenue-base.
“Is the Umahi government aware that Ebonyi indigenes living in and others doing businesses within the said premises have been served notices to quit the said apartments?
“If indeed, it is to their knowledge, who is behind such notices?
“Whereas, we condemn in its entirety the said moves to sell-off Ebonyi property in any part of the country, which our ancestors and elders fought very hard to bequeath to our generation particularly the one in question, we quickly call on the State government to come open and declare the actual status of the said property within 24 hours.”
The association, however, called on the security agencies to probe the allegation and unravel the truth.
“We, therefore, call on security and law enforcement agencies to without hesitation probe this allegation of sale of Ebonyi landed property in Lagos and or any other part of the country where such incident or interest may have occurred without due process and consequently bring those behind same to book.”
The group also urged the state government to remember and fully compensate those affected by the siting of the Airport project in Okarue, Umuoghara, Ezza north Local Area of the state.
AESID also totally condemned the silence of the state government on the plights of those affected by the siting of the Airport project in Okarue, Umuoghara, Ezza north Local Area of the state.
It said: “The victims, who are predominantly peasant rural farmers and numbering thousands, have lived without shelter and any form of genuine assistance after being forced out of their ancestral homes and lands by the Umahi-government which acquired the said land for the International Airport.
“Finally, we further reject any proposal, suggestions or moves to allocate, cede or partition any part of Ebonyi’s vast and arable lands to cattle herders, whose marauding influence within and around the State have not only created fears and led to deaths of our people but have caused the proceeds from our farms to dwindle greatly.
“We say so because Ebonyi has very rich mineral and Agricultural potentials which, when left unexploited due to fear of herdsmen, would take a further toll on the poverty index cum other ratings of the state which recorded one of the greatest inflation in food prices in May this year.”
