The Abia State House of Assembly Committee on Public Petitions and Judiciary on Tuesday submitted its report on the investigation of a former permanent secretary in the state civil service, Mr M. C. Egwu.
The investigation followed a petition submitted to the House titled “Re-report of a case of abuse of office and unlawful scheme by the former Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Trade and Investment, Azikiwe Secretariat, purporting to represent the government and obtain by tricks the shops legitimately allocated to us by government since 1991 in the then Imo State.”
The petition, written and signed by Nathaniel Ogor, Silas U. Onunkwo, Mary James I. Uko and Ezekiel O. Offia for and on behalf of other Ndoki Shop Owners, was committed to the Committee on Public Petitions and Judiciary during plenary on Wednesday, 6th of December, 2023.
The allegations contained in the petition are:
1. That Mr M. C. Egwu, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, Azikiwe Secretariat, was behind the demolition of our shops at Ndoki Road, Aba South Local Government Area, on Sunday, 18th July, 2021.
2. That Mr M. C. Egwu claimed to have been given a fiat or approval by the past government to demolish and convert the place to an industrial market.
3. That Mr M. C. Egwu’s intention in that unlawful act was to dispossess us of the shops legitimately allocated to us since the year 1991 by the then Government of Imo State, now Abia State.
4. No fiat or approval was given to either Mr M. C. Egwu or anyone at all to demolish and convert the Ndoki shops to an industrial market.
The petitioners prayed the house to stop Mr M. C. Egwu or any other person from dispossessing them of their legitimately allocated shops and that the government should grant them a fiat or approval to rebuild the shops and continue their businesses without any interference from anybody.
The committee recommended as follows:
1. That the place called Ndoki Shops at Ngwa Road market (Ahia Ohuru) in Aba South Local Government should not be interfered with by any stranger.
2. That anyone planning to enter, trespass or interfere with such shops or has entered the area already, to develop or occupy the same, is doing so at his or her risk.
3. That Ndoki shops belong to those who officially applied for and were allocated the same in 1991 by the government of the then Imo State, now Abia State, who have shown evidence of their ownership.
4. The committee urged the assembly to grant all the prayers of the petitioners.