authentic owner of the two plots of land by the late GM and his staff.
I entered the land and cleared it with my bull dozer and after two weeks , I was invited by the late General Manager , with whom I did the transaction. He asked me to stay action until full investigation was conducted as some people had come to tell him that the land belonged to the Governor and I did. After three weeks, he called me and asked me to continue my construction , that he had investigated the land and discovered that it was the two plots before my own that were allocated to the Governor . He also told me that the Governors land had been sold to someone from Ohafia by a clique in the Government, through the General Manager of UCDA, Mr Enyinnaya Nwokonta, and that his investigation revealed that it was for that reason that they had been pointing fingers to my plot with intention to use it and replace the Governors plot they sold. He told me that the woman whom they sold the Governors plot to had earlier reported the matter to Chief Ukpai Agwu, the Deputy Chief of staff in the office of Deputy Governor, and what they had resorted to do is to take my plots of land to replace it. He asked me to go in and posses the land and that they had marked the Governor’s property which was sold and had been built upon for demolition and that I didn’t have anything to fear since I had my genuine papers.
There are Verifiable evidences at ABSEDA office, (Admin Officer, Community Development Officer, Accountant, Lands Officer, Surveyor and Town Planner) to know the authenticity of my story”, he stated.
After that, all agitations over ownership of the land ceased, until after the death and burial of the late General Manager , when Mr Chris Nwosu and Enyinnaya Nwokenta started again and I continued to build on my land. One day, I went to see my plot, only to discover that it was being fenced off and on inquiry, I was told that it was Nwosu and Nwokenta that were fencing it under the instruction of the deputy Chief of staff, Chief Ukpai . As a genuine owner of the property, I entered the land and continued with my construction work, having severally complained to the Acting GM, Ugonma Jimonu to proffer solution to the problem, but she could not.
It was while this construction was going on that they, on June 5, 2017, stormed my site with two Hilux load of heavily armed security operatives and abducted all of us , including a neighbor, who was standing there , admiring what we were doing. His plea that he was not one of us did not save him from the hands of our assailants.
They threw all of us into the back of the pickup vans, took my Toyota Thundra vehicle and headed out of the site. Initially, I thought that they were taking us to the police station, where we would probably give our explanations and be released. But I was wrong, because immediately we got to the junction leading to Government House ,they drove inside Government House, forced all of us down and gave us the beating of our lives. There, our ordeal started, as we were tortured like common criminals, and subsequently detained until the following day. At about 12 midnight, I was taken to an office in the Government House , that can be described as a torture room and forced amidst beating to denounce ownership of the two plots of land but I refused.
Chief Ukpai Agwu, who was spearheading the whole issue told me that if I could just say that ABSEDA had duped me by selling the said property to me, I would be released. Probably, they wanted to record my statement so as to use it against me later, but I remained resolute. When they realized that I was not moved they gave me more beatings with every available instrument they could lay their hands on. They broke my hands, legs and waist and the ordeal landed me in the hospital for many weeks before I was discharged and asked to be coming from home to take treatment. I had to get out of circulation for some time for fear of being killed.
Then my vehicle which they seized remained inside Government house from that 5th to 8th June, 2017, when it was released. They instructed Jimonu , the Acting General Manager of ABSEDA to resolve my matter. But as I talk to you now, I am yet to hear from them. Since then, my land has been under lock and key and the construction work has stopped abruptly”, Mbakwe said.
He said that he wrote a letter to the Governor of Abia state, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, captioned “Humiliation, Intimidation, Abuse of Human Rights, Abduction and Acts Capable of Breaching peace in the state”, in which he pleaded with the Governor to come to his rescue, but as at the
