From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
A gardener, Mr Kennedy Nwapi, has alleged that police from the Imo State Command have demolished his garden at Chukwuma Nwoha, worth N100 million just to execute a project owned by the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA).
Briefing reporters, the aggrieved gardener who said he has been operating the garden he claimed to be on a greenbelt in the area since 1998 got finally demolished on October,18th after several warnings by the police who claimed the garden was sited on their property.
According to Nwapi, the Owerri Capital Development Agency (OCDA) had also made several attempts to demolish the garden it claimed was obstructing the lock-up stores build behind it by POWA but quick intervention by the Chief of Staff to the Government House, Nnamdi Anyaehie prevented it.
But when that effort failed, Nkem said the POWA informed him to vacate the premises as it want to build more lock-up stores at the place.
Subsequently, Nwapi said before he could wait for the governor’s decision as advised by the Chief of Staff, whether to quit the place or not, some heavily armed policemen invaded his garden at about 8 30 pm on October 18 and levelled up the garden he has owned forms twenty years in a twinkle of an eye.
He said: “When I left to repair my car from the garden, my wife called me that five persons were waiting to see me, when I went there, one of them identified himself as Mr IK, a personal assistant to the CP’s wife, they came with another woman who is my neighbour, they said she asked them to ask me why I refused to vacate the premises of the garden.
“Despite my effort to do what the POWA team said in the garden and which is to make the place a driveway instead of walkway, they talked about earlier, later IK came again and handed me his phone that the CP wants to speak with me, he told me that place I’m staying is police property and he must recover it.
“On Tuesday it was around 8 30 pm when somebody called me that demolition is going on in my garden, people who saw them said they were well over fifty policemen, I could not come out that day,” Nwapi said.
However, reacting to the claim, the police spokesperson in the State, Michael Abattam has insisted that the garden space belonged to POWA and moreover, he denied the destruction of the land by police.
“The land in question belongs to POWA and they used it to build lock-up stores. They never trampled on anybody or encroached on anybody’s land, they never destroyed anybody’s property.” Abattam said.