Protests : Onitsha Sports club protests ejection, damage of structures by indigenes

By Cyprian Ebele, Onitsha

Tension is mounting following alleged destruction of properties and plot to eject Onitsha Sports club from its location by Ekwerekwu family which resulted in the club members protesting at Government House, Awka, demanding immediate stoppage of further invasions and demolition of the club premises .

During the protest, the club members, led by their President, Chief Daniel Okafor, complained bitterly to both Governor Soludo’s, the state Commissioner of Police, Nnaghe Obono Itam and the state assembly Speaker, Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze that Harold Ekwerekwu sent some thugs to the club premises to demolish their perimeter fencing and other structures, with a bogus and unsubstantiated claim that the land where the sports club is currently situated belongs to the Ekwerekwu family.

They alleged that ironically, the invaders/trespassers even looted their age-long properties, including aluminium profiles and iron rods while the demolition exercise lasted.

During the exercise, the protesters carried placards with some inscriptions such as “Harold Ekwerekwu, face the lawsuit you filed at Onitsha High court and stop self-help. Anambra Police Commissioner, enforce High court order against trespassers. Onitsha Sports Club is not for sale. We suspect that Anambra Police Çommand has been compromised”, among others.

Laying their complaint to Ernest Ezeajughi, Chief of Staff to Governor Chukwuma Soludo who gave them an audience on arrival on behalf of the Governor, a member of the Board of Trustees, BoT of the club, Chief Pius Nweze, flanked by the club president, Chief Okafor, Secretary of BoT, Barr. Emeka Anyanetu who was a one-time Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly and Barrr. Chris Ajugwe, a prominent legal team of the club, lamented that as they were protesting, the demolition of club premises was still ongoing, in deviance to the subsisting interim injunction recently granted by Justice Jude Obiorah, a vacation judge sitting at Awka high court.

Chief Nweke who is the Chairman/CEO of Best Aluminium Manufacturing Company Limited and others further lamented that they were seriously suspecting that men of Onitsha Police Area Çommand had been compromised to the extent that they drove away the vigilante operatives the club members invited to stop the demolition as soon as the Police Area Commander for Onitsha, ACP Gregory Itobore was alerted to help quel the activities of the invaders/trespassers.

They further alleged that while the demolition exercise was still ongoing, the invaders were busy plotting the demolished spaces for sale to prospective buyers, claiming that the entire club premises is owned by the Ekwerekwu family.

They said that it was ironical for Harold Ekwerekwu to suddenly come out from the blues and started claiming that the premises of the sports club which was built since 1924 as the oldest sports club in the old Eastern Region belongs to Ekwerekwu family and he also followed it up with instant demolition without even approaching the members, claiming that he has a lease document signed by the colonial masters during the time of his forefathers that the land was leased to sports club for an upward of 75 years and that the lease period had since expired.

They therefore warned that in as much as they want to respect government in power, follow due process, maintain law and order, peace and tranquility, explore legal options to the matter, their silence should not be misconstrued as an act of weakness or cowardice particularly in the face of current security challenges in the country and be pushed to the wall or else they might resort to a violent revolution if the demolition exercise continued unabated as they would no longer fold their arms and watch acts of brigandage going on in the club premises with impunity and with such bogus and unsubstantiated claims by the the trespassers/invaders.

The protesters left Government House and headed to the state Police Headquarters, Amawbia to extend their grievances to the Police Commissioner, Obono Itam , shortly after Soludo’s Chief of Staff, Ezeajughi addressed them.

Addressing the protesters, Ezeajughi commended them for their peaceful manner of protest and collected their petitions for onward transmission to Governor Soludo himself who he said was at that moment heading a state executive council meeting inside the executive Chambers of the Government House.

He promised that the government would definitely study their grievances, invite the opposition party and find a way of resolving the matter amicably.

At the Police Headquarters, the protesters also narrated their grievances to the CP who after listening to them with rapt attention, assured them that he would visit the scene at Onitsha as soon as possible to get first hand information about the situation.

The Speaker of Anambra House of Assembly, Hon. Udeze who also listened to them with rapt attention, said he would assign the House Committee on Conflict Resolution to wade into the matter with a view to finding a peace resolution and to report their findings back to the House.

The Police Area Commander for Onitsha, ACP Itobore told newsmen in his office that he got wind of the incident when the demolition exercise had already been completed.

All efforts to get in touch with Harold Ekwerekwu to comment on the matter proved abortive as his phone continuously said the number was switched off.