Thank you for the patience and maturity you have shown since earlier this week when information reached us that the land which we are planning to build our estate might be in the center of an ongoing litigation. Well, I have held more that 10 meetings with most of the concerned stakeholders in the land and this is the summary of what I understand from all our deliberations. I will spend some time to explain to us what the true situation on the ground is. So I should be answering some of the questions I know all of you will likely be asking now.
IS THIS LAND UNDER LITIGATION?
YES. There is a court case initiated by some members of another village in Nike over the rightful ownership of this land. Some of the cases date back to 1979-1986. There has not been a final pronouncement for or against anyone in the matter.
DID THEY TELL ME ABOUT THE COURT CASE?
Despite my paying a lawyer to dig, despite my snooping around and asking direct questions from those that should know, the answer I always get is that there is no land dispute over the area I am trying to buy. They never told me about the court case. When I brought up this matter yesterday night about their lack of transparency and the need for full disclosure before committing to sell the land to me, this community countered that they owe nobody on their lands, and that the matter is now a forgotten issue since they have now been selling their lands without any troubles.
THE SURPRISE ABOUT THE ISSUE
It will be very difficult for anyone to believe anyone will ever drag this land with the people of Ogbeke. The position of this land is in Ogbeke community, and all the houses around the land are owned by people of the village, so, if you are contesting the ownership of this particular land which is not near to any other town, you are very likely contesting for the whole of Ogbeke and the whole village does not have any right to live in their town? It was a complete puzzle to me till today when I seemed to learn the true issue in contention. I had three meetings today, three yesterday and four on Thursday evening and nobody ever told me the real issues till a boy let out the info.
THE AUTHORITY STRUCTURE
I cannot go further without outlining that the people of Ogbeke have a duly certified traditional ruler who has his full powers in the Enugu state traditional rulers council, and that he has been sitting on land matters for a very long time with his elected attorneys in his community, and they have been signing all land transactions from the community. This community has just too much lands, thousands of plots lie in their territory. This is what draws all the interest since the main Enugu is sold out and occupied, you cannot find a large space inside other parts of Nike or Enugu.
The people of Ogbeke has been selling many lands to many companies and individuals and all the individuals are living and doing business on their lands now, there is no sign of any violence on anyone as a result of the court case, all developments are still intact. They showed me countless copies of documents with heavy companies, even the Mexican firm planting tomatoes in Ogbeke Nike land. They issued that lease also.
When I expressed fear that the hanging court case may be a big issue, they dismissed such possibilities in Ogbeke cabinet and asked me to go on and start building houses on the estate, they promised to be behind me in and that I will never lose my land since they will protect it. They have been trying to assure me all day long to bring along my bulldozers and start clearing the lands, and that the youths will stand and work with me all day long. They all swore that the land is free of any problems.
WHAT IS THE MAIN ISSUE AT STAKE?
Ladies and gentlemen, there are historical traditional things you can say in a public forum, but this is not one of such. So many people will not understand the matter if I mention it, so I better keep my peace, for the sake of my safety. I can only tell you if you paid for a land here and only on phone please. I hope everyone understands my stand.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NEXT SPYDER?
I will calm down and watch matters unfold, and it is not going to be in the near future. I will keep buying and building on this land with my own money, hoping to laugh in the end when all these will be settled.
HOW ABOUT DEPOSITORS WHO PAID FOR LAND?
I am leaving the decision for them to make, especially now there is an added risk to the investment, I am not going to guarantee anything. If you want to continue on this land, say so. If you want to cash out, just send me a mail, your name and account number and I will return your money by Monday the 12th January 2015. I have all of your money. Although I have spent about N1m for surveyors, agents and lawyers, let it be my loss. I will also be looking to go back to the cheaper but more distant lands at Ubahu Nkanu East as an option. Or I can see if there are any other lands like the one they showed me at Amorji Nike. I am sorry for all these.
PERFECTION IS OUR GOAL, EXCELLENCE WILL BE TOLERATED.
Thanks to the local boy who let the info out. Infact I was told that the ruler of Ibagwa with one Chief Julius Nnaji, the Odezuluigbo III of Nike, were on the radio for this particular land just last month. According to them, the two royal fathers warned the public to get off the land. And to the effect that anyone who pays any person for a piece of it should regard the money as a lost. My brother, It couldn't be more fearful.
The inner gist also is that the two feuding towns were once villages under Nike headed by the Nnaji dynasty. And that the land issue broke out when they became independent autonomous entities. Consequently, the court delegated Chief Nnaji on behalf of the dynasty to submit the history of the two communities. This report, i learnt, favored the plaintiff Ibagwa, being the eldest in the Nike clan. The members of the two communities already know in whose favor the court judgement would be, i was told.
I conclude that it will be too risky to buy into this one. I'll equally advice that you not encourage people to buy into a troubled land as this one. I'd also like to thank my relations for the timely information even though they're complete novice in the real estate business. Thanks for your time also.
spyder880: Thank you for this information. I will investigate it to the end and will bring my findings here for all to see. I did my homework but every new information is worth checking out. Thank you.
spyder880: I chose a location that is well known by most Enugu residents, the Nike lake resort hotel and decided to make a video of my driving to this land and timing the drive to show how far or close this land is from the town.
The video started as I was driving out of Nike lake, I turned left and moved on the road to Opi-Nsukka, at about 7 minutes, I turned right off the tarred road and continued up till the land.
Hello Spyder, may God bless this initiative and make it a success. I have been nursing the feeling to buy since December when i first saw the project and registered here. But my relations have been discouraging me. They told me this land is an on-going court dispute between the current sellers (Ogbeke community) and Ibagwa. And that the Deputy Senate President got wind of the matter after he had already bought into the area. Am kinda confused. But I have asked them the name of the Chief of the Ibagwa for verification and they gave his name as: HRH, Chief Dr. Emmanuel Ugwu.
Could you please go meet with him. Make a short video of his declaration that he and his subjects are not in court with this community over this land? With that, I'll definitely be spurned to make my final decision immediately. Thank you very much. More success.
Properties › Re: Tigerkenn Homes Property Development Initiative by NWAIZZI: 1:44pm On Jan 11, 2015*. Modified: 2:02pm On Jan 11, 2015
