Why we demolished structures at Centenary city, Enugu govt clarifies

Why we demolished structures at Centenary city, Enugu govt clarifies

The Enugu State government, weekend, claimed that trending videos of alleged indiscriminate demolition of buildings at the Enugu Centenary City were to mislead the public.

The state said the only buildings demolished were those constructed illegally and uncompleted. It also claimed some of the affected ones served as kidnappers’ hideouts.

The state Commissioner for Information, Mr Aka Eze Aka, disclosed this when he inspected the site, located at Obeagu/Amechi Akwunanaw in Enugu South LGA.

Eze said, “What we saw in the trending video today was an attempt by the originators to demarket Enugu State as an investment destination for real estate development. But in reality, the operation by Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority 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.

“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.

“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 regularised. They just went about to recycle old videos where some property were destroyed by past administrations.

“It is also funny that the young man has been brandishing a mere deed, which cannot be an approval to build.”

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The ECTDA Chairman, Uche Anya, during the inspection, said his agency would not ‘succumb to blackmail, including recycling and trending of videos of past demolitions’.

According to him, “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 unauthorised developments and carry on with the urban masterplan restoration and renewal process, including those initiated by successive administrations, we took the initiative to mark the affected property in October 2023, issuing notices that should accord the developers a window to regularise 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 dozens of mobile phones denoting the dangerous level of sophistication.

“As some of the videos already in 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.”

Our correspondent reports that a trending video had allegedly displayed two men displaying papers which they claimed authorised them to build at the estate. In the video, they were begging the state government to spare their property, claiming that they returned home to invest, having been forced out of Lagos.