By Anne Azuka
Delta State Government has said the demolition of illegal structures on land belonging to the Dennis Osadebay University, Anwai-Asaba was not targeted at any individual or persons but to recover land belonging to the University.
Chairman State Taskforce on Recovery of Government Lands, Chief Frank Omare stated this at a press briefing in Asaba.
Chief Omare who was flanked by members of the Committee, said the briefing became necessary following widespread condemnation on the demolition of buildings at “Musa Camp” within the precincts of the University land.
The Taskforce Chairman said Governor Sheriff Oborevwori constituted the taskforce to recover all government lands across the state, adding that land grabbers were making a fortune from fleecing unsuspecting members of the public with illegal land sales.
He recalled that few months ago, Governor Oborevwori put this team together, headed by him to look into all government lands in Delta State and to recover them for the government.
“So we kick started by first calling a town hall meeting of critical stakeholders especially, the Dennis Osadebay University land. We called them to Government House and they were over a hundred and fifty persons.
“We educated them and appealed to them that the land belonged to the university and therefore, if any one has a C of O, or a document that qualifies them to build houses there, let us know.
“The meeting was more than two months ago. We were on jingles on both local and national TV stations. We took action two days ago because we needed to effect the recovery and as we speak, we have recovered almost all the land in that area for the university.
“The blackmail coming from left, right and center; Nigerians should know that our governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori is not oppressing anybody.
“I am not a lawyer but they say that, ‘he who alleges must prove’. We found out that a lot of acclaimed community leaders and youths started inviting innocent people to the said land and started selling lands to them.
“We educated these people, informed them and gave them notices. But they kept on promoting satanic information to Nigerians.
“Delta State government got a gazette as far back as 1996 which was endorsed by the then Military Administrator, Group Capt. Ibrahim Kefas.
“In 2018, our immediate past governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa signed a renewed one when the time elapsed. The government of Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori is not an irresponsible government.
“Mind you, this is the headquarters of our state. If you go to CORE AREA Two B, by Ibusa area, land grabbers have sold all the lands in that area. They have even demolished the Federal College of Education (Technical) fence just to develop.
“If you go to Ughelli by the stadium, you can’t even see the stadium again, they have built in front of the stadium. The same thing in Warri, Sapele and Agbor.
“The C of O of that land is here but non of the occupants of that land has a C of O. And we know that the law says that before you dig a foundation of any building, you must get government approval.
“The university authority had partnership with some individuals and companies long ago, so they showed their documents and we have left those persons.
“There is one building still standing there because the owner got a court injunction stopping the Delta State government from demolishing the house and we have left the building because we respect the law.
“The dimensions of the entire land is about 502 hecters of land. As a PDP government, we have PDP people houses that are there, that of APC and Labour Party but this job is not about party. It is about the law. Delta state government is not an enemy to anybody.”
Chief Omare said an investor almost fell victim of N90 million fraud until he saw the demolition going on at the Musa Camp.
He added that the Head of Service of Delta state was dealing with the issue of some government officials who gave building approvals on a government land.
“So we still have a lot of task ahead of us. Today is, Anwai campus, tomorrow may be in Warri, Sapele or Ughelli,” he said.
