FAMILY BATTLES CATHOLIC CHURCH OVER PLOTS TO FORCEFULLY TAKEOVER LANDED PROPERTY
- Vows To Drag Priests, Others To Court
{"...It is sad, we will not allow this to happen and we want the Pope and the entire Catholic community in Nigeria and the world to know this, that their clergies want to forcefully takeover what does not belong to them", said the family}
Charles Otu, AJM NEWS
Tuesday 14/04/2020
The matrilineal lineage of Nde Abagha Ota, Ibe Anuma maternal family of Ehugbo in Afikpo North Local Government Area of Ebonyi State has petitioned the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Afikpo to the Police Command in the area over plans by some Catholic Priests acting for and on behalf of the Church to forcefully takeover landed property bequeathed them by their fore-fathers.
A document made available to this medium on a letter-headed paper of the mission hospital dated 9th May 1977 certified that the grandfathers of the Nde Abagha Ota lineage of Ibe Anuma maternal family represented by Messers Oko Ezeali and Michael Otu both of Ugwuegu and Egwu Idam of Egeburu had reached an agreement to lease the parcel of land West of the Maternity Hospital and Laundry to Mater Hospital, Afikpo at the rate of N40.00 per annum.
The said lease agreement according to the document was subject to review every ten years.
In 2003 however, a Lawyer, Ben Iguh Esq. writing on behalf of the Nde Abagha Ota branch of Ibe Anuma maternal family reminded the then Sole Administrator of the hospital on the urgent need for it to renew its agreement which had expired the previous year, 2002 after 15 years beginning from 1977 when the lease agreement was initially entered. A member of the Abagha Ota family, Mr. Joseph Otu Chukwu noted however that their tenant remained silent on their demand till February this year when the Ekpuke Essa Traditional Ruling Council of Elders in Afikpo, replied them through their legal counsel, Oko Nnachi & Co. Esq, curiously citing a 2014 decision that the community no longer collect royalties for lands acquired for the general public use.
Mr. Chukwu further alleged in an interview that the Priests, Reverend Fathers; Moses Alu, Jude Otu Onwa and Charles Otu working to actualize what they claim to be the interest of the Catholic church have not only gone beyond the actual space allotted them at the West end of the hospital but have in their desperation to takeover the entire landed property been harassing, molesting and intimidating their land owners.
"We gave them our land to build their facilities with a clearly-spelt agreement. Now, they are not willing to renew it but wants to takeover our entire land. They have threatened to deal with any of our family members or land owners who attempts entry into our own lands.
It is sad, we will not allow this to happen and we want the Pope and the entire Catholic community in Nigeria and the world to know this that their clergies want to forcefully takeover what does not belong to them because I know it is not in the culture of the Catholic church to be at war with their host communities needless to talk of threatening them with violence", Chukwu alleged.
He said they have fenced off the roads leading to the land in a bid to prevent them from gaining access.
He added that they are prepared to approach a court of competent jurisdiction to seek justice over the matter.
A petition by their counsel to the Nigeria Police, Afikpo Area Command against the afforemntioned priests claimed that on Wednesday the 18th of March, 2020 at about 7 a.m, the family had taken some workers to their maternal family land to commence excavation for fencing and discovered that the said hospital has tipped trips of sand on their maternal family land.
"That as the workers were about to start work, the afforemntioned persons came and stopped them and threatened to deal with them including our clients if they don't leave the place", the petition submitted while urging the Command to urgently in the interest of justice and security of lives commence immediate investigation into the matter.
The petition added that the family has enjoyed the said land from time immemorial having partitioned same and allotted part to individual members of the family and sold part to individual members of the public while leasing part to the hospital.
Even as many had wondered the reason for the desperation of the Priests acting on behalf of the Catholic church to illegally and forecfully acquire the said land, it was however gathered that it is not unconnected to the plans by the Catholic church to give a Diocese to Ebonyi South Senatorial zone since it has operated with only one Dioceses in the State.
A source stated in confident that whereas, other parts of Ebonyi South are demanding for the new Diocese to be located in another area outside Afikpo north which currently houses the hospital and a Nursing school, clergies under the Church's umbrella from Afikpo north are selfishly lobbying intensely to again have the Dioceses situated in their area.
"Catholic faithfuls in places like Edda (Afikpo South LGA) have already promised to donate some massive plots of land for the building of the new Dioceses but their brothers in Ehugbo (Afikpo north LGA) wants everything for and by themselves", claimed a top source in the Catholic church who reasoned that since the zone comprises of Afikpo South, Ohaozara, Onicha and Ivo LGAs, it is in the best interest of the Catholic Church to site the new Diocese in any of the other four LGAs.
When contacted, one of the accused Catholic Priests, Rev. Fr. Jude Otu Onwa said he can't react because he is not authorized to speak on the matter.
"I was only mentioned in the matter in my capacity as a Catholic priest working in the Parish. I will give you a number of the person who can talk to you on the matter", he said.
Reacting on behalf of the Ekpuke Essa Traditional Ruling Council, the Spokesman of the council, Okabue Christopher Abagha Egwu said the claims of the petitioners were borne out of selfishness as he alleged that Mr. Chukwu in particular has refused to honour their invitation in seven Eke market days running.
Said he, "The rest of the other members of the Matrilineal lineage have come to Ulo ubi Essa and informed us that they are not part of the actions of that Chukwu. They have washed their hands off the matter and said he is alone and on his own."
He claimed that the land no longer belongs to the family having been given out to the hospital a long time ago and alleged further that Mr. Chukwu was a land grabber who is interested in grabbing lands that doesn't belong to him.
Reminded that the hospital had been paying royalties to the Abagha Ota family where Mr. Chukwu belongs to, Okabue asked, "how much is that amount they complain of compared to the lives that Mater Hospital has saved in Afikpo and it's environs?
Photos And Video Clip Show::
•The Disputed Parcel Of Land.
• Attached Documents Regarding The Land Dispute
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