Armed soldiers from the 82 Division, Enugu, in the early hours of yesterday, invaded the residence of a former Coordinator, Joint Intelligence Fusion Cell Operation, Hadarim Daji, Zamfara State , Colonel Emeka Ugwuoke (rtd), and forcefully ejected him and his family.
The retired army officer was said to have traveled to Nsukka, his hometown, for the Easter celebrations, when over 40 armed soldiers invaded his residence at about 01:50 a.m. yesterday and threw his wife, children and property out of the apartment.
Attempts to get the Acting Deputy Director, Army Public Relations Officer, 82 Divsion, Enugu, Eromeselu Unuakhalu, to speak on the matter failed. But an army source in the division, who spoke on condition of anonymity, however, insisted that the retired general was occupying the quarter, No 7, GRA, illegally, stressing that they knew he would like to seek sympathy; hence, their decision to record everything that happened.
The source said: “He was ejected last year. The army will not accept somebody trying to acquire its property illegally. Why can’t the retired Colonel respect himself and quit the property rather than seek unnecessary sympathy.”
Addressing journalists on the development, Ugwuoke claimed that the state government had already allocated the said property to him. He said: “Sometimes in 2008, the Enugu State government wanted to take over the state property that Nigerian Army personnel were occupying and I am living in one of them. I wanted to benefit from it and the Division said I should meet my state government to see if they will give it to me.”
“I wrote several applications to the state government in 2013; the then governor, Sullivan Chime, approved my application. I couldn’t continue the process, because I was away until 2015. That was in a critical period when attention was drawn to politics only. When a new governor came, he said I should hold on, that there were series of committees to verify those things, which eventually ended and I was given papers of the apartment.
“My colleagues understood until 2020 when a certain GOC came around and told me that he wanted to use the place as a guest house, and now started claiming it belonged to Federal Government; but the matter was addressed and he left it. He set up series of committees that said the property belonged to Federal Government, but we know he was influencing them.”
The Guardian
