Despite initial denial , the works minister Engr Dave Umahi is alleged to have visited the disputed ancestral land of the Njoku Chita family in Umuchima Uburu in Ebonyi state to allegedly facilitate a takeover.
The family has again accused the minister, his elder brother Eze Laz Umahi and other traditional rulers of surreptitious moves to seize their ancestral land without their approval, describing the move as wicked , selfish, fragrant display of arrogance and clearly bad intention .
The family had written President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ,the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS) , The Inspector General of Police and other relevant authorities over the alleged seizure .
The works minister had earlier described the allegation as baseless and politically motivated .
Moments after, the minister’s elder brother and some traditional rulers tried to extricate the minister from the conversation by responding that the minister was not involved in the entire drama .
Weeks after the Njoku Chita family again accused the minister and his team of using his elder brother Eze Laz Umahi to induce some members of the family with money and other items for them to sign off the land and give the false impression that it was a collective decision of the Njoku Chita family , even though those approached are not direct owners of the land .
An allegation that was further confirmed by some of the family members that they were indeed approached and induced to sign off a land that does not rightly belong to them .
It was alleged that Eze Laz Umahi summoned a meeting to implement the strategy .
The Njoku Chita family has expressed concerns that the purpose for the push to forcefully take over their ancestral land was malicious and that they had earlier donated some parts of the land willingly and cannot afford to do more. They queried : “what was he doing on our land when he earlier denied that he was not interested in our land.”
The family in a statement also queried the presence of the minister of works who is allegedly in Ebonyi for a burial on a land he had earlier denied having any interest .
The Njoku Chita family said the minister’s visit was a confirmation that he was interested in taking their land and truly the masquerade behind all efforts to frustrate them out of their ancestral land against their wish .
They called on the community and it’s autonomous Chiefs to stay off their legitimate inheritance and desist from holding briefs for the works minister .
They equally called on the minister to focus on his national assignment of fixing Nigerian roads and leave the law abiding members of the Njoku Chita family alone .
But in his response ,the minister of works denied the allegations that his visit was to take the land in dispute .
His media Adviser Barr Uchenna Orji said: “land is not something you carry on your head .
” It is funny to say that you saw a man on your land and you conclude he came to carry your land . You don’t carry land on the head. They should stop disturbing people.”
The Njoku Chita family described as heist , the earlier position of minister’s team that the land was to be used for University expansion project and now being refered to as community development project asking ,”is the community their private property to develop.”
