17th July 2026, NewsOrient, News, Governance And Development, Law And Society, Business And Economy

….. Govt Agents Offer Him N800,000 As Compensation In Exchange For His Original Documents

A Political Scientist and an indigene of Abia State, Mr Okechukwu Ogbonna, has raised the alarm over what he described as “an attempt by some unscrupulous agents of Abia State Government to dispossess him of his legitimate asset.”

He therefore called on Governor Alex Chioma Otti to come to his aid and to help him recover his shop at Eke Oha Market in Aba, the current value of which the Otti Government has put at N18million but which the said agents claimed they have sold to other people, and are therefore offering him N800,000 (Eight Hundred Thousand Naira) compensation to surrender his original documents to them.

A letter of protest to the development, which Mr Ogbonna wrote and made available to NewsOrient, entitled “Grand Design To Dispossess Me Of My Asset And Livelihood” reads:

“The current government of Abia State was welcomed by all the citizens of the state at its inception with the hope that it would address most of the poignant issues left unresolved by its predecessor. One of the key issues left unresolved by Dr Okezie Ikpeazu’s Government of Abia State was the former governor’s inability to give back to the original owners of shops demolished for reconstruction after its completion.

But a recent visit to the reconstructed side of Ariaria Market shows that there is an air of fear and cold strangeness because the shops are no longer in the hands of the original owners.

Many of the original owners have died while seeking justice concerning their alleged forceful eviction without any form of compensation for what belongs to them.

This anomaly perpetrated in the exchange of ownership of shops in Ariaria Market was one of the anomalies that made Abians very happy when Dr Alex Otti won the 2023 Elections and was sworn in as the state governor.

Also, long before the inception of Dr Otti’s government, he gave hope to concerned stakeholders when he made firm electoral premises concerning this particular injustice, promising to do justice.

But three years into his tenure as the governor of the state, Otti’s government is yet to resolve this infringement of people’s right.

In fact, the impression being created by the government agents engaged to handle this project in Aba is that the governor has jettisoned his campaign promise to restore shops to their original owners.

This is the impression created to me as I made efforts to recover, as promised, my shop, EKE OHA Market, Aba Shopping Centre and the government agents claimed they have sold my shop without my consent.

This happened at the Phase 1 of the reconstructed part of EKE OHA Market, which is now moderately completed.

When I visited the site, I noticed that the old demolished shops were much bigger than the present ones and yet the price tag on each shop is N10m for original owners and N18M for new buyers.

Being one of the.original shop owners, I told the agents that I want to pay the said N10m to have my shop back.

It was at this point that the officials handling the market told me “the whole shops had been sold out, based on first come, first served.”

I vehemently reject this ploy to dispossess me of my asset and source of livelihood.

This action of the Abia State Government’s agents handling the project to try to or purport to sideline the real owners of the shops and to fraudulently buy up the shops themselves, or sell it to their friends and associates without giving the original owners the first choice of either paying the charged fees or collecting government offer must be overruled by our dear State Governor for it is unfair and an abuse of Fundamental Right of Nigerian citizen to own personal properties.

It is also a despicable act capable of painting the Dr Alex Chioma Otti-led Abia State Government in very bad colour.

It is also scandalous that the same agents told me, an original owner of a property the state government valued at N18million (Eighteen Million Naira, to accept an offer of N800,000 (Eight Hundred Thousand Naira only) as due compensation and to handover my original shop documents to them.

Of course, I vehemently refuse this glaring injustice and attempt to defraud an Abia indigene and a citizen of Nigeria.

I hereby call on Governor Alex Otti, who promised to do justice, to intervene in this matter and ensure that I recover my shop being held illegally by Abia State Government agents operating at Eke Oha Market in Aba – Mr Okechukwu Ogbonna. No 3, Item Road, Aba.”

~ Published By NewsOrient Network

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