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Indegenes of Ezinano Community Call For Lawrence Chinwuba's Sack


Hundreds of Indegenes of Ezinano Community, of Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State Nigeria  have called for immediate sack of the state commissioner  for Housing and Urban Development Lawrence Chiwunba for allegedly involving in illegal acquisition of  landed properties  and diverting state owned properties into private use.
The mammoth crowd thronged the state secretariat, Awka, with placards carrying different inscriptions like; Sack Lawrence Chinwuba Now, Law Is Death, Here if Your Coffin, Thief, Converting Our Heritance To Private Use, Chinwuba Must Leave Awka For Us, and host of others, noted with strong equivocation that the state commissioner should be sack in the interest peace in the state capital.
The protesters, who are in their advance  ages 40 and above barricade the entrance of the   state secretariat bearing white coffin, with the commissioner for housing picture on it and traditional quotes to exorcise non indegene in their community.

Speaking on behalf of the protesters, the leader of the group and the youth leader, Awka Development Union of Nigeria, Mr. Obi Ochije with strong vituperation called on the state governor, Chief Wilie Obiano to remove the commissioner, who they alleged had  illegally acquire landed properties in the state capital, of the intent for public use, but  later discovered the landed properties are now been sold to other people against the original motive of the acquisition.
Also speaking, a community leader, Reverend Victor Ifeanyi, alleged that the commissioner wrongfully allocated landed properties against the overriding interest of the community,
‘’We have done a lot of sacrifices, Governor Lodge belongs to Us, Fire Service is our land, state command , prisons, Nipost, INEC LGA Headquarters, , Police Area Command, SSS Office, Awka South LGA headquarters, these are fundamental interest and nobody is quarreling about all these , Saint Paul’s College, JTC even all these areas, we know is for the betterment of the entire state, we are not against these’’
‘’We are against taking our land and giving to an individual, the good example is the present Rockland, it is owned by one Peter Obi-Ene, an individual from Amogwu-okwe in Enugu state, he came he and he gave him seventy hectares of land , government told us that they want to acquire it for the overring public interest, but at the end of it , its now converter to a private business enterprise’’
‘’In that place now, they are now selling land for eighteen million and above, you can’t tell me that you acquire land for public use and you selling it to Mr B, No Awka Man will hear this and be happy  and are saying government has power, No! no!! no!!!,. We will challenge that power, because we know what the constitution says about the land use act and its for everybody to read.’’
‘’What we are saying, currently, the same Law Chiwunba is facilitating, you know they have started branding Awka names, before you know what is happening, you would not know they have branded the land behind your house they are talking about, in Abuja, Gwarinpa is Gwarinpa, Asokoro is Asokoro , they still retains originality, we have written government severally  and we have had series of meeting with them , we told them , let us retain this originality and all these things are not done.
Addressing with restive protesters, the head of civil service in Anambra state , Mr. Chidi Ezeoke urged the aggrieved indigenes to assert  caution in the interest of the state, promised register their grievances before the state governor and assured their demands will be taken as a matter of priority for government to address.
Speaking when contacted on phone, the embattled Anambra state commissioner for Lands and Urban development, Mr. Lawrence Chinwuba described the allegation as false and outline the efforts of the state government invested to ensure every party in the community is compensated.
He lamented the situation where different group from the community would come up with series of demand s after  the state government had given the statutory twenty per cent payment and other levy required on each land acquired.
His word: ‘I am surprised that such issue will come up, after we have paid all the levy recognized under the law to stakeholders of each community, the land in question is acquired in 2010 and to  this end, we have given the fund requested by the village heads, even up till now, they keep coming up with all sort of monetary demands.’’
‘’The Judges quarters also suffer same demands, where the judges are almost frustrated to leave the sites, where it was reported they are being faced with different daily demands and levy from different set of youths of the same community on a land that has been duly acquired by government, only to be faced with daily demands from different people.’’

‘’People should just learn to allow government to develop the state, and refrain from the act of vilifying development programmes of the state government .’’ Said Commissioner 
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