By Chuks Eke
Ir was a melodrama at Onitsha Sports club located at GRA area of the commercial city of Onitsha,, Anambra state as two Onitsha kindreds fight over ownership of the large expanse of land where the sports club is located.
Already, the Okposieke kindred of Ogbolieke village led by Barrister Harold Ekwerekwu, a member of Ekwerekwu family had demolished a large portion of the sports club premises and is currently erecting a perimeter fence round the premises with a claim that the lease agreement signed during the colonial era between their forefathers and colonial masters had since expired and as such the ownership of the land had reverted back to them as owners of the land.
While the demolition exercise and erection of the perimeter fence is ongoing, leadership and members of the sports club went into frenzy to the extent of staging a peaceful protest against the Ekwerekwu family and its Okposieke kindred for taking them unawares.
Few days after taking their protest to Government House Awka, Police Headquarters Amawbia and the State House of Assembly, another villagers from Onitsha known as Umudei stormed the club premises with placards claiming that the land belongs to Umudei village and not Ekwerekwu family, Okposieke kindred or Ogbolieke village.
According to the spokesman of Umudei village, Hon. Emeka Iweanya who is also Chairman of Umudei Land Development Committee, Umudei villagers are the original owners of the entire premises of Onitsha sports club, adding that they are already in court with the Okposieke kindred over the ownership imbroglio.
Carrying placards with some inscriptions as “Sports club GRA belongs to Umudei village. We don’t support violence. Okposieke land does not extend to sports club”., among others, Iweanya recalled that the colonial masters had in 1910, acquired so many lands belonging to both Umudei villagers and Okposieke kindred on a 99-year lease for use as a Forest Reserve which he said had since expired.
Iweanya added that the portion of the land where the sports club is situated belongs to Umudei villagers, while other places like All Saints Anglican Church Cathedral, Onitsha belong to Okposieke family.
According to Iweanya, Ekwerekwu family of Okposieke and Umudei village lointly own the land known as forest reserve but in 1945, Ekwerekwu family demanded that her own portion of the land be returned to her and it was granted that Okposieke kindred owns the right wing of Ozala road starting from DMGS Roundabout, while Umudei village owns the left wing which includes the controversial Onitsha Sports club.
“So Ekwerekwu family should not lay hand or claim on the Sports club premises as it doesn’t belong to them but to us. We got information that Ekwerekwu family is ejecting the club members and demolishing the structures therein and that is why we are here to protest against that,” he stated.
Midway into the protest, a group of hefty young men believed to be members of Okposieke kindred, led by Barrister Harold Ekwerekwu himself stormed the sports club, venue of the protest and ordered Umudei protesters to stop the protest with immediate or be prepared to face severe physical attack.
When eventually Umudie protesters obeyed them and halted the exercise, saying that they would go back to their village leaders who sent them to carry out the protest, report back to them and await their next instruction to follow, the Ekwerekwu-led men collected their placards, tore them to shreds, littered the papers on the ground and allowed them to disperse without any harm.
However, in a swift reaction, Harold Ekwerekwu who spoke to newsmen shortly after stopping Umudei villagers from the protest, described the protesters as hungry people and advised them to come to him for money rather than being bias in the land issue.
His words, “We are not in contention with anybody over the land. No injunction was served on us by members of the club or anybody. Members of the sports club are squatters. They are not supposed to be here and if they want to remain here, they should come to us for negotiations”, he thundered.
On alleged threat by the family to the members of the club as their properties are being damaged, Ekwerekwu reiterated that there will be no such thing but rather the family is only reclaiming her landed property after expiration of the lease granted to them by their forefathers.
He therefore gave the assurance that there can’t be bloodshed as speculated in some quarters, adding, “I am a lawyer. A senior one for that matter I can’t break the law. We are good people. We still do not touch their recreational facilities and we never touched any of the club members”.
“The protesters led by Emeka Iwuanya are hungry people and they should come to us for money instead of being bias.’ However, they have apologized to us, they are our brothers and we have forgiven them” he further disclosed.
It would be recalled that few days before the Umudei protest at the sports club, the club members led by their President, Chief Daniel Okafor had stormed Government House, Awka, where they complained to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on the ejection and damage to their properties.
Governor Soludo who was ably represented by the Chief of Staff, Ernest Ezeajughi, pledged to look into the matter even as the members also complained to the state Commissioner of Police, CP, Nnaghe Obono Itam and the state Assembly Speaker, Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze.
During the exercise, the protesters carried placards with some inscriptions such as “Harold Ekwerekwu, face the law suit you filed at Onitdha 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.
A member of the Board of Trustees, BoT of the club, Chief Pius Nweke, flanked by the club President, Chief Okafor, Secretary of BoT, Barr. Emeka Anyaneto, who was a one-time Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly and Barr. 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 that include, Chief Emeka Obieli, further lamented that they were seriously suspecting that the Policemaychave been compromised to the extent that they drove away the vigilante operatives the club members invited to stop the demolition.
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 therefore warned that in as much as they want to respect government in power, follow due proces, maintain law and order, peace and tranquility, explore legal options to the matter, theie silence should not be misconstrued as an act of weakness or cowardice particularly in the face of current security challenges in the country.
The Speaker of Anambra House of Assembly, Hon. Udeze who also listened to them with rapt attention, said he would assign the Houses
