Onitsha Sports Club laments vandalism by suspected land grabber
Members of the Onitsha Sports Club in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra State, are lamenting the destruction of property worth multi-million naira, carried out at their premises by hoodlums, suspected to be working for landgrabbers in the community.
They complained that the hoodlums had carried out several invasions at their club and during these attacks, they destroyed properties worth several millions of naira, including a newly-built one-storey staff quarters, ultra-modern auditorium complex built by a senator and over 500 assorted economic trees.
Similarly, several wall fences and other equipment were also said to have been destroyed by the yet-to-be-identified thugs within the community.
Speaking at a press briefing and while conducting journalists around the destroyed premises, on Sunday, the President of the Club, Chief Daniel Okafor accused a legal practitioner in Onitsha (names withheld) of masterminding the invasions and destructions of the properties through the thugs.
Okafor, flanked by other members of the club, accused the legal practitioner of being a notorious land grabber, who he said allegedly led gangs of thugs to unlawfully invade the premises of the sports club by scaling the fence on August 10, 2024, at about 1:30 am to carry out the destruction of the said property.
He, therefore appealed to the state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the residents of Onitsha North and South local government areas and the general public to come to their rescue.
He said, “We are using this opportunity to send a ‘Save our Soul’ message to the governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the residents of Onitsha North and South local government areas and the general public to intimate them about the invasion and destructions of our facilities by hoodlums working for some landgrabbers.
“We are wondering why this landgrabber, who is a lawyer, has continuously sent thugs to invade and destroy our properties running into several millions of naira. He has resorted to self-help, even though the matter is pending in a court of law and began to encroach on our property without notice.
“Among the properties destroyed by the thugs were the newly-built one-storey staff quarters, the ultra-modern auditorium complex built by Senator Stella Oduah as a constituency office project and over 500 assorted economic trees.
“The Onitsha Sports Club was founded in 1924, but this notorious landgrabber claimed that he had the authority of the state government, the Federal Government and the Inspector General of Police, as well as the consent of the Obi of Onitsha before carrying out the invasion and destructions.
“We wish to warn the general public that the Onitsha Sports Club and its premises are not for sale. Any person dealing with the landgrabbers or any of his agents is doing that at his or her risk. We humbly appeal to the state government, the Federal Government, all sports lovers and the general public to come to our aid.
“We also plead with the state government to probe all the past activities of the landgrabber and his cohorts as it concerns land grabbing in Anambra State.
“This matter has lasted for 12 years and is still pending in court. We don’t know how he got the authority to come and demolish our properties. He said that his forefather owned all the land in the area, but no notice was served to us before demolishing our properties.
“We have made contact with necessary authorities, even the police wanted to stop them from demolition, but they resisted. Onitsha Sports Club is not under lease but was allocated by the colonial masters.
“What we should do is to go back to court. We have not contacted Obi of Onitsha about the incident, but we will do that soon. Police have asked us to petition the matter, which we have done, but upon that, the land grabber has continued to destroy our properties through his thugs. He has been invited by the Police to come on Tuesday for interrogations.”
A member of the club, who is also a lawyer, Chief Chris Ajukwe, stated that there was no need for landgrabbers to resort to self-help since the matter is still pending in court.
He added that Nigeria presently practices a democratic system of government and not a military government.
Efforts to get the reactions of the said landgrabber proved abortive as calls and messages to his mobile phone were not responded to as of the time of filing this report.
