NAF Personnel Being Used For Land Grab In Enugu – HURIWA Alleges
A human Rights Organisation on the aegis of Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has accused officers and men of the Nigerian Air Force of allowing themselves to be used to abuse and misuse their armed powers to confiscate land from owners around Enugu only to sell to land speculators.
HURIWA said it has been flooded with petitions from Enugu by land owners that had their land taken over by officers and men of the Nigerian Air Force that in turn handover same land to some godfathers in the Enugu State ministry of Housing who equally sell the same land to speculators thereby depriving rightful owners of their Right to own immovable property as guaranteed by the Nigerian Constitution.
National Coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, who made the accusations at a press conference in Abuja, said that it is surprising and alarming that officers and men of the Armed Forces are abdicating their assigned constitutional responsibilities particularly of defending the territorial land of Nigeria in spite of increasing insecurity to dabble into purely civil matters.
Onwubiko noted that different level of resistance were mounted against the actors of State who, in the guise of some false promises of development have turned Enugu State into the new epicenter for land grabbing activities.
He quoted some of the petitions saying; “In this particular instance, the situation was somewhat contained until Mr. Vitus Okechi was named the substantive Commissioner for Housing. He has, since then, sworn to annex all community lands to himself and a few cronies.
“Unsurprisingly, besides the many disappointing moves he has made thus far, he has recently gone as far as engaging the services of men of the Nigerian Airforce, whose focus and objective should have been on external and territorial incursions into the Nigerian Airspace. “How he manages to drag this expected-to-be-highly-disciplined officers to the role of land grabbing beats the imagination of the ordinary mind.”
Onwubiko said that the petitioners appealed to HURIWA to task the Governor of Enugu State, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, whose antecedents suggest, is peace loving and subservient to the dictates of the rule of law to call this his lieutenant, Commissioner of Housing Mr. Vitus Okechi, to order, before hapless citizens resort to self-help and anarchy sets in.
The petitioners equally urged HURIWA to draw the attention of the Heads of Security agencies particularly the Chief of Air Staff, to the dangerous trend of men and officers of the Security architecture, abandoning their core responsibility and becoming undertakers for land grabbers in Enugu State.
HURIWA further said; “Now we have these allegations against the segment of the Nigerian Military at a time of grave threats to national security. Nigeria burns but those who should quench the fire are busy chasing rats literally.
“As we speak, there are reports of the Fulani herdsmen converting forest reserves and farmlands in Ovia and Orhionmwon, from where they are said to launch alleged criminal attacks on unsuspecting farmers and travellers.
“Nigeria is under imminent threat of war and there is a spike in violence all across as stated above, yet as we have seen the petition from Enugu State, the Air Force of Nigeria are being used for commercial Land related civil matter by the officials of Enugu State ministry of Housing.
“We urge the Chief of Air Staff to step and stop these abuses and professional misconduct of his officers, who are disgracing their esteemed uniform and professional careers.”
He quoted Sections 217 to 220 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) to buttress his position with regards to the role and responsibilities of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
