Chukwuemeka Woke

Enugu State - A Widow's Petition Against Nkem Owoh

• Report rights infringement
• published: 15 Oct 2012
• views: 3303

http://www.africanmoviesnews.com Dear Sir. WILLFUL DESTRUCTION OF MY HOUSE @ PLOT 11 EMEHELUAKU LAYOUT, TRANS EKULU ENUGU BY MR NKEM OWOH (OSUOFIA) AND HIS AGENTS I know that you have a listening ear and would hear the cry of an oppressed and helpless widow. I know that your intervention will enable me get justice from those who think they are stronger than me. I believe that my cry to you for help will not return without getting the proper assistance I woke up in the morning of Monday October 1, 2012 only to hear that a house I am building to provide shelter for my little children at Plot 11 Emeheluaku Layout, Trans Ekulu, Enugu, has been destroyed by Mr Nkem Owoh (also known as Osuofia) and his agents. Like thieves, they came at night to rob me of the only possession I am saving to be home for my children in the future. When neighbours called me to give me this information, I thought it was not true but on getting to the site, my heart broke as I saw my labours and toils and savings and sacrifices of several years completely destroyed by a man who have for sometime been persuading me to part with the said plot of land. My encounter with Mr Nkem Owoh began shortly after my husband, Mr Ben Ayogu died in December, 2004, just months after we purchased this plot of Land. Being a teacher, I had saved with my husband to buy this particular plot of land and we were already making plans to build on it when the cold hands of death stole him from me, leaving me to look after our very little children, the oldest of whom was just five (five) years old then. After mourning my husband, I discovered that there were some missing documents from our apartment, the most important of which was the documents for this plot of land. I raised the alarm then and when nobody came forth with information on its whereabouts, I quickly ran to the Nigeria Police Station at Abakpa Junction here in Enugu to make a report. I also went to the Ministry of Lands, where, armed with the police extract, I was able to obtain the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the property. But not long after, Mr Nkem Owoh appeared, claiming ownership of the land. I tried to inform him that I had neither sold the land nor authorized its sale to anybody but he insisted the plot belonged to him. The matter continued to drag between us until it got to a point when he began to ask that we settle. Having not sold the land and having no intention to sell the land, I told him there was nothing to settle. He persuaded me with all manner of offers, including that of paying extra money to motivate me to relinquish the land but I said no. Sir, this plot of land is perhaps the only major valuable I was able to invest in with my husband and we did it then because we wanted a proper home for our children. Even now, as I struggle to bring them up, this land remains the only valuable property that we have. So when Mr Nkem Owoh felt he was not succeeding in persuading me to part with this land, he began to use threats and on several occasions said he was going to forceful take possession of the land and vowed that since I claimed God will fight for me, that I had better bring down my Creator when the chips are down. Each time he comes to meet me, he usually came with a retinue of dangerous looking thugs but I was never to be cowed into giving him the only property I am leaving for my children. Because my salary was barely enough to pay our rent, pay for the school fees of the children and provide for their upkeep, I felt it was proper to construct a house no matter how small on the land so that we can move in and thus begin to save what we were using to pay house rents. Thus I began construction four years ago (in 2008). I was slowly building this potential home of ours because my income was not large enough for speedy construction. I had to even take a loan to enable us finish and park in this year. Sir, this building had been practically completed. I had roofed the house and was about hanging the doors and windows, having also installed the frames when Nkem Owoh and his agents struck, bringing the entire structure, my four years of labour to ordinary rubble.