The Federal Government has fined the Anambra State Government for N50bn for allegedly defacing its land in Awka, the state capital.

A human rights lawyer, Mike Ezekhome, Senior Advocate Nigeria, disclosed this to journalists in Awka.

He said the claim was damages for defacing about 148 hectares of land belonging to the Federal Government’s land in Awka

He said, “We are claiming the sum of N50 bn as damages for defacing the land in the first instance. The structures there are not the structures approved by the federal government with the agreement of the allottees numbering 1,850.

“Under sections 315 and 317 of the constitution read together with sections 1, 10, 28 and 51 of the Land Use Act, Anambra State has no power whatsoever and howsoever to take over land belonging to the Federal Government in Anambra State because the same state government had already given this land to the federal government as shown by evidence attached.

“And the Federal Government had already taken over the project as Federal Government’s sites and services scheme at Amansea in Anambra State which is about 148.336 hectares of land.

“Having taken over, the Federal Government decided that in order to build it, they have to allocate it to allottees to develop it to specifications.

“The lands were bulldozed, graded; streets were put. Then, suddenly, the Anambra State government purported to revoke the certificate of occupancy given to the federal government in September 2009.

“And the federal government said ‘you can’t do that. This is a land that we own through the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and we have allocated it to some allottees to build according to our specifications.

“The state government has no power to take over land belonging to the Federal Government. It’s an exception to the land use act which is that all lands in the state belong to the state government which it holds in trust for the people.

Counsel for the Anambra State Government, Emeka Etiaba, SAN, said there was no going back on the matter.

He said, “We’ll be here on 30th March again to adopt our address after which we look forward to judgment from the court.”

MetaPhysical:
That is sacred land, reserved for purposely built communities that fulani will settle in.

johnmartus:
That land should be given to fulanis herdsmen for Ruga settlement.

hisgrace090:
148000 plus hectares of land out of the tiny anambra state is like dividing the state into two, fg this is unfare.

MetaPhysical:
See below.

Simplyleo:
50b from Anambra? How?

Where is the fed govt expecting Anambra to get that from when the annual igr of SE is less than 30bn?

Besides, has Anambra finished paying back the bailout? Let's not talk about minimum wage.

sarrki:


I don’t like this

Having said that

Please can you point or show with facts where any land as been allocated to any tribe or ethnicity in any part of the country before ?

MetaPhysical:
That is sacred land, reserved for purposely built communities that fulani will settle in.

Simplyleo:
50b from Anambra? How?

Where is the fed govt expecting Anambra to get that from when the annual igr of SE is less than 30bn?

Besides, has Anambra finished paying back the bailout? Let's not talk about minimum wage.

MetaPhysical:
That is sacred land, reserved for purposely built communities that fulani will settle in.

Simplyleo:
50b from Anambra? How?

Where is the fed govt expecting Anambra to get that from when the annual igr of SE is less than 30bn?

Besides, has Anambra finished paying back the bailout? Let's not talk about minimum wage.

conductor259:

Fined or sued for N50b? Is FG court? Who even told them they can win this case against state government that has all lands in their jurisdiction?

This illiterate Osobo boy. Come out of your brown roof and receive education you refuse.

Mgbadike80:
Rubbish, they can only sue Anambra state, the land use law states clearly that all lands in a state belongs is in direct control of the governor, the Fg only owns land in the FCT. besides, this issue is already in court and the land in question already a completed state owned housing estate. This seems to be fake news. The land was revoked because it was planned as a Ruga settlement against the initial reason that it was allocated by the the state.

MetaPhysical:


Sarrki,
This particular land was earmarked for ruga, long before ruga came into public knowledge and became controversial.

During the controversy States responses were that they would not award lands to FG for ruga. What about lands previously awarded, were they going to revoke them? Thats an issue.

This parcel of land falls into that category and fg is not backing away from its plan to build settlements on it. As you can see its planning has already been awarded.

The contention here is that Anambra, having realized its past error is remorseful and would like to kick fg out of the land, but has no legal foot to do so. It thus employed brute steps to convert ownership to itself by erecting structures on the land; a clear violation, and a trespass!

Stalwert:
Like I said in the previous thread, Nigeria Newspapers are just as useless as used toilet paper, read the body of the op and ask yourself does it make sense, is this how any sane human being should communicate very serious issues? The wire is what you will hear drunks speak like they are in a bear palour.

Ishilove:

Why not post the link and extract the article?