The Public Petitions Committee of the Federal House of Representatives Tuesday threw out the petition by a group of people from Ndiaga, Amechi-Uwani Community in Enugu South LGA, Enugu State.
Chairman, Hon. Mike Etaba, who presided at the scheduled hearing in the committee room, in Abuja, struck out the petition on the ground that the House had no power to adjudicate on a matter that was already pending in several suits in different parts of the county.
A press statement from the defendants in the petition signed by John Okeke listed those who filed the dismissed petition to include Chinwuba Agah, and Sunday ‘White’ Nnaji, and five others, alleging that they have been leading “a group of land grabbers from Amechi-Uwani disposing off plots of land at the Centenary Estate, on the false premise that the acquisition of the land by the Enugu state government was not lawful.
“The petitioners, acting in concert with dubious developers desperate to take over Centenary through the back door, raised a number of unsubstantiated charges against imaginary enemies, including a police officer, SP Chdiebere Ijioma.
“They also alleged that a certain police IPO, was killed in the course of his work on their earlier petitions, but provided no details or particulars of the alleged murder.
“At the hearing of the petition in Abuja on Tuesday, Barr. Peter Ezeh, who appeared for Private Estate Internal Limited, overseeing the development of Centenary, informed the committee that there were over 20 matters at various stages in various courts in the country, a facts that the petitioners fraudulently withheld from the law makers.
“Vice-chairman of Ndiaga General Assembly, Hon. Onyekwere Nwobodo, also alerted the committee members of the destabilising activities of the petitioners in their homestead, describing them as land grabbers and desperados.
“After taking elaborate submissions from credible persons and interest groups on the matter, Committee Chairman, Hon. Etaba, ruled that it was not proper to meddle in a case in courts of competent jurisdiction.
“He struck it accordingly!
“The petitioners who have been sabotaging the peace of the community and blackmailing law enforcement agents into granting them free reign are now expected to come up with a new petition, may be to the Senate, this time, in their endless search for a forum to justify their illegal land grabbing activities inside Centenary.”
