Fred Itua, Abuja
Four villages in Ugwuaji Awkunanaw Community, Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Enugu Government over alleged forgery, illegal conversion of landed properties and sale of community lands to unsuspecting members of the public.
The four villages are Umunnugwu, Ndiaga, Umunnajingene and Isiagu and in a petition addressed to the Zonal Head of EFCC in Enugu, urged the anti-graft agency to “unravel all the fraud and personalities behind the mask in executing this rather condemnable and brazen act of daylight fraud to our detriment.”
In the petition signed by Bob T. Ugwu, a palace secretary, the villagers said the illegal and fraudulent activity had made a caricature of the law as the fraudsters continually act with impunity as if no one can hold them accountable for their action.
They alleged that a high ranking civil servant in the state’s Ministry of Housing was behind the syndicate forging papers and unlawfully acquiring lands belonging to the villages.
In another letter addressed to the Commissioner, Ministry of Housing in Enugu State, the villagers called on state officials involved in alleged planned acquisition of their ancestral lands to put an end to it.