Untold Story Of Enugu Airport Demolition Saga
Two weeks to the expected inauguration of the refurbished Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, Nigerians woke up, penultimate Wednesday, to a report that a section of the newly constructed fence, which is the part of the project, had been pulled down.
Orient Daily reports that the news was greeted with shock and disbelief, especially in the South-East, considering the utility value the people place on the airport.
It could be re-called that the federal government shut down the airport for total repairs nearly one year ago, with an initial promise to reopen it December 2019, a promise that never materialised, even after a second Easter 2020 reopening promise.
The minister of aviation later visited the airport in the peak of the COVID-19 lockdown and apologised for the delay and assured that August 30, 2020 would be it.
Then appeared Arc. John J. Emejulu, a businessman, who, on August 12, 2020, pulled down about three kilometres of the newly constructed perimeter fence of the airport.
It was gathered that, but for the swift intervention of the Air Officer Commanding Ground Training Command, NAF, Enugu, Air Vice Marshal Idi Amin, more damage would have been done to the Airport project.
Emejulu told journalists who accompanied him to the demolition exercise that he had a valid court order for his action.
Enquiries, however, showed that none of Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, the Federal Government, or the Enugu State Government was joined as parties in the suit that led to the court order in question.
Instead, the parties were Alexander Obaji and Marvellous Kelechi Onah vs Arch J. J Emejulu and Raymond Agbo, in suit No. E/642/2016.
FG to apply big stick:
An enraged minister of aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika did not hide his anger as he vowed to bring Emejulu to book.
Sirika, who stormed the airport early the following day, described the demolition as a total embarrassment to the federal government and expressed deep sadness that the perpetrator could destroy a “national security asset”, at a time the federal government was in the course of delivering the Enugu airport, on August 30, as promised.
He lamented that “while the procurement (of the Enugu airport rehabilitation) was going on, a certain cantankerous individual by name Arc. J. J. Emejulu came with bulldozers and hundreds of armed thugs and destroyed more than two kilometres of our fence”.
The minister said that “he (Emejulu) has given the government the opportunity to show how not to wilfully destroy public asset belonging to over 200 million people”.
While reiterating the commitment of the federal government to the reopening of the Enugu airport on August 30, as earlier promised, Sirika, expressed dismay at the action of Mr. Emejulu.
He added that “This will certainly be the end of this kind of recklessness. We will not forgive him. The chief of air staff, the inspector general of police, the director general, DSS, others, will be directed to do the needful and bring him to book.”
He noted that Gov. Ugwuanyi visited the site of the destroyed fence earlier and was at the airport to meet with him over the matter, stressing that it shows his level of commitment to the realisation of the Enugu airport project.
Emejulu has no court order – Nnaji
Meanwhile, the member representing Enugu East/Isi-Uzo in the House of Representatives, Prince Cornelius Nnaji has dared Emejulu to make public the court order he relied on for his action.
Nnaji disclosed that the layout Emejulu is claiming was created and gazetted in 1984 by the Enugu State Government, stressing that a layout cannot be created on top of existing layout after 23 years.
He said, “Emejulu always mentions my name; that I am the person taking over his estate or property as he claimed. I want to state that there has never been a time Emejulu owned a property at that Airport layout.
“The area we are talking about is the Airport Road Extension layout and was owned by the people and was registered in 1984. I don’t know if you can have a layout on top of an existing layout. There is already an existing layout there. I wonder from which layout he is claiming. He mentioned Airport Road Layout Phase 4 and 5, my concern is that we need to see the licence of those who differentiated Airport Road Extension and Airport Road Layout 4 and 5. I want to say categorically that JJ Emejulu doesn’t own a land that place.
“Secondly, the area we are talking about is Airport Road Extension which I know that the government took over for extension of Akanu Ibiam International Airport and by virtue of the Land Use Act, the government owns every land. So, that land in question doesn’t belong to Emejulu that can warrant him going there to destroy government property which all of us condemned in entirety.
“JJ Emejulu doesn’t have any court judgement. If he has a court judgement, he should produce the court judgement. Why is he hiding the judgement? Every court judgement has a surveyor plan and a document attached to it. That has been my question from the beginning.
A proper surveyor plan of the judgement will explain to us which one belongs to him.
“Let him provide the documents and I can provide a counter documents to prove to him that he doesn’t have a land there.”
Emejulu subverted court order – Landlords
Emejulu’s claim of an existing court order has also been debunked by some landlords in the area. They insist he deceived the court into granting the execution order.
The landlords, who have cried out to the federal government, said Emejulu led armed thugs to destroy their property.
They referred to the court action in question as being “mischievously and surreptitiously obtained in 2020 against a subsisting restraining order made in 2017 for stay of execution of the judgment of suit No. E/642/2016”.
Speaking on behalf of the landlords in the neighbourhood, Basil Madueke, whose duplex was destroyed, said it was the third time the perpetrator came with armed thugs to demolish their property.
Madueke who led the newsmen round the affected structures, stressed that Emejulu’s level of intimidation and brutality was unbearable.
His words: “This is the third time Mr. J. J Emejulu is destroying my property. And I have all the evidence, both pictures and video, to back my claims. So, I call upon the federal government to take immediate action because I demand that this very man should pay for the damage he has caused me and other affected landlords.”
https://orientdailynews.com/ge....opolis/enugu/untold-
