Politics
NO fewer than 500 retired civil servants, on Tuesday urged the Anambra State House of Assembly to intervene in an alleged land property fraud by the Anambra Home Ownership Company Limited (AHOCOL).
The retirees, under the umbrella of Ezukoo Housing Estate Cooperative Society, made the plea when they stormed the Assembly in Awka.
Narrating their ordeal before the House Committee on Public Petitions, Mrs Miriam Chukwu, lawyer to the complainants, said the sum of N2.3 billion was paid to purchase parcels of land from AHOCOL, an agency of the state government.
Chukwu said that her clients made individual payments to the agency for the acquisition of a total of 22 estates, with 2,868 plots of land at various locations in the state following media advertisement.
She however, lamented that 11 years after full payment for the property, they were yet to be shown the plots of land allocated to them, nor issued any survey and building plans.
“This unfair treatment has generated severe apprehension and emotional imbalance among our clients
“We plead with you to use your good offices and direct the relevant authorities who may have taken over the responsibilities of AHOCOL to do the needful.
“We plead that you direct the agency to release to our clients the estates and plots of lands they purchased and the withheld documents,” she said.
Also speaking, Dr James Okpala, Chairman of the Cooperative Society, said the decision to approach the House was as a result of several unanswered letters written to government.
According to him they wrote letters to the State governor, Secretary to the State Government and Public Complaints Commission, to no avail.
“Some of us involved in this mess returned from troubled parts of the country to settle in our home country.
“Some went as far as borrowing from the bank and individual lenders to pay for the parcels of land while some targeted erecting and moving into their own houses after retirement, but all these are dashed hopes.
“We are optimistic that our coming here will yield result and justice will be served because this is the first institution that gave us listening ear, “he said.
Responding, Mr Emeka Aforka, Chairman, House Committee on Public Petitions, assured the victims of thorough and quick dispensation of the petitions to guarantee justice.
“We will do thorough investigation, we will not tolerate use of any means to extort money from citizens, particularly retirees.
” We will use our legislative powers to get justice for all concerned,” he added.
A meeting was scheduled for July 12, to enable all parties involved, including Ministry of Finance and Lands, as well as former Managing Director of AHOCOL, Dr Uche Ezeokafor, to be contacted for hearing.
NAN
– July 6, 2021 @ 18:25 GMT |
Tags: Retirees urge Anambra Assembly to intervene in alleged N2.3 bln land fraud
