Commissioner says Authority (ECTDA) only demolished illegal, uncompleted buildings serving as kidnappers’ den.
The Commissioner for Information Enugu State, Mr. Aka Eze Aka has refuted the trending video of the massive demolition of properties at the Enugu Centenary City located at Obeagu/Amechi Akwunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area, Enugu State.
The video recorded and released by a popular content creator known as Untouchable Comedies with 4.5million followers showed pictures of demolished buildings in the area while pleading with the State Governor, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah to spare him the agony of losing his property bought and duly registered.
In response to the video, Commissioner Aka during a tour of the affected area explained to journalists on Saturday that the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA) only demolished illegal, uncompleted buildings serving as kidnappers’ den.
“You are all aware of the distance we traveled from the city to get to this place. The culprits did not only erect the structures without any title and approval, they got inside this place pretending to be a block industry, whereas as you can see, they were into nefarious activities,” Aka stated.
“When the person, who was on the video began to talk about trying to destroy his house and so on, it is important to state that not one single building that has been earmarked for demolition was touched because we also have a human feeling to allow these houses for them to be regularized. They just went about to recycle old videos where some properties were destroyed by past administrations,” Commissioner Aka said.
“What we saw in the trending video today was an attempt by the originators to de-market Enugu State as an investment destination for Real Estate development. But in reality, the operation by ECTDA and the security agencies was a testament that the government is resolved to rid the state of criminal elements and protect property rights and investments in the state,” Aka alleged.
Meanwhile, the ECTDA Chairman, Mr. Uche Anya has reiterated the state government in collaboration with security agencies’ resolve to secure lives and properties of the people even as investments and contracts with investors are protected.
Uche Anya said the trending video is a recycled video of demolitions done during the past administration as the current administration is yet to demolish any of the unapproved but completed and or occupied properties in the area.
Justifying the action of the ECTDA in Centenary City as Rule of Law at work, Anya said, “The ECTDA Law prohibits carrying out any development or municipal service within the Capital Territory without the written approval of the Authority. For the avoidance of doubts, Section 13 (1) of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority Law, 2009, provides: ‘Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, as from the commencement of this Law, no person or body shall carry out any development or municipal service within the Capital Territory, unless such development or municipal service has been approved in writing by the Authority.’
“However, whereas the current ECTDA leadership is determined to stop unauthorized developments and carry on with the urban master plan restoration and renewal process, including those initiated by successive administrations, we took the initiative to mark the affected properties in October 2023, issuing notices that should accord the developers a window to regularize their titles/properties, if any.”
“For emphasis, even though the notices had since expired, no unapproved but completed or occupied building was demolished during the exercise by ECTDA. We are still calling on the developers to do the right thing.”
“Meanwhile, it is to be made clear that the ECTDA operation of Friday, January 19, was based on an intelligence report about an illegal development/property that served as kidnappers’ den at the Centenary City. In the course of our due diligence, we also found out that the property, like many others at Centenary City, had no title or approval from the appropriate authorities.”
“Although the building was not fully completed, the criminals had already mounted sophisticated surveillance equipment such as CCTV cameras, PTZ cameras, in addition to about two dozen mobile phones denoting the dangerous level of sophistication.”
“As some of the videos already in the public domain clearly show, we made some chilling discoveries on storming the property with security operatives, including several guns and suspected kidnappers, whom the security agents were able to apprehend.”
