#AbiaOnline
It has become public knowledge that those who make the most noise about Aba development are largely the same people attacking development initiatives at Aba through all manner of subterfuge.
They will gleefully post pictures of bad Faulks road, PH road and others but once the government gathers resources to fix those roads the same people will start shouting that government is targeting demolition of houses owned by opposition party members.
I have had to wonder if there are houses at Aba marked as “PDP”, “APC”, “APGA” or even “Uche Ogah”. Sometimes I am even tempted to ask myself why it is that all the houses blocking drainegeways, discharging excrement to major roads and even with expired or non existent property documents always end up being tagged opposition properties.
Can one safely conclude that all those who are disobedient to the law at Aba deliberately support the political opposition? Or is it that the opposition is on a deliberate mission of under developing and destroying Aba?
Just last night someone copiously circulated a malicious post purporting that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is supervising the dispossession of properties belonging to opposition and non indigenes at Aba. The author of the post took his time to ensure that he circulated the post to all known social media groups and even included inciting comments against the Governor and his kinsmen in a bid to stoke clannish sentiments.
I read the nauseous post and quietly investigated, as an Abian who also own properties at Aba. My alarm bells were set off by the mention of my good friend, Prof Ikechi Mgbeoji, as one of the “Obingwa” arrowheads of the purported plan to dispossess non indigenes of their properties.
For starters, Prof Mgbeoji is from Aba and not Obingwa. His ancestral home is somewhere around PH road Aba. He is also one of those I know to be honest and straight forward with zero clannish bias. Why on earth will the propagandists drag his name into their nonsensical nosentum?
I don’t want to believe that Prof’s efforts at cleaning up Abia Poly is already attracting the attention of those responsible for the sorry state of that institution.
What really is the allegation?
Summarily, they are saying that Governor Okezie is using his kinsmen from Obingwa to recover properties whose lease have expired at Aba back to the original owners.
For those who don’t know, Abia State Government is currently implementing a policy of verification of property titles at Aba and Umuahia. (See attached as circulated by the propagandists). The focus of the verification are government reserved areas (GRA) and other properties originally owned by Government.
For emphasis, nobody is verifying private houses at Ogbor Hill, Jubilee, Ngwa road and other properties that originally were not government owned at any time.
The same policy was implemented in at least 3 other Nigerian states I know without similar allegations. It is also well known that some properties at Aba and Umuahia were acquired during the colonial era and over the years resold or grabbed by others. Many of those properties, especially around the GRAs, were initially grabbed by the colonial masters who created titles with 99 years expiry period. When the lease expired those who bought or took over the titles from them refused or failed to normalize their hold on the properties for whatever reason.
It is instructive that most property owners with non-existent or fake titles don’t pay property tax or rate to the government of Abia state. Yet people have been living or doing business there and enjoying government services for years without contributing anything but complaints here and there on good and bad roads.
How will a government provide good infrastructure without generating revenue from the people who should pay?
Permit me to point out that some of those properties were seized by colonial masters from the communities that own them. The agreement between those colonialists and the owner communities have long expired, in some cases, and the properties should naturally be renegotiated with the new owners, at the least, or reverted back to the communities/Government that own them.
Few years ago in Port Harcourt, I witnessed legal and other group actions taken by those who own the land where Shell Oil Company currently have their headquarters and club. In the end the community renegotiated with the company and a new lease was endorsed in conjunction with the government without the company losing the property. Everyone went home happy.
How many of us have asked how companies like PZ, UACN, UTC, John Holt and Lever brothers acquired the massive properties they have at choice areas of Aba? Are the titles still valid today? Should the government continue to close its eyes and allow Abians to be cheated out of much needed revenue?
Make no mistake about this: by virtue of the 1976 land use act all lands belongs to the state government. If you have a C of O issued from 1976 to date you have no reason to worry about verification because your hold is still valid.
Again, as an individual, if you are buying a property with a C of O you need to check when it was originally issued and how many years validity that still remains. Then make sure you pay all relevant property taxes and nobody will trouble you anywhere in Nigeria. But if you have properties with expired or about to expire titles please rush to relevant government agency and extend or revalidate your title.
It is too petty to turn communities against each other at Aba simply because you have realized or suspect that the law is not on your side. If your property is recovered by Abia State Government, as stipulated in the land use act, you have no reason to allege a clannish agenda. There is a difference between Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and Abia State Government. If you don’t know that then you should return your school certificate to whoever issued it to you. #FakeCertificate
Finally, those of you using clannish sentiments to try to intimidate or overawe the Governor of Abia State are making a grave mistake. The gentle strides of a lion must not be mistaken for weakness. When Governor Ikpeazu roars on the side of the law, development need of Abians and good conscience please don’t run for cover.
Find and read our land use act before you start jumping upandan like a trapped “winch”. Aba must be fixed so that money generated from Aba can be used to fix the rest of Abia State. All those who confiscated properties belonging to all of us at GRAs should be ready for verification.
For all others, enjoy your properties but pay your fair share of taxes and ignore Fake News purveyors seeking to pit Abians against each other on behalf of their desperate political sponsors.
JOK
NB: This represents my personal opinion based on my investigations as a concerned Abian.
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