Thanks so very much Mr. Speaker, I must say that this is the day the Lord has made-Ndi Imo will rejoice and be glad in it. These are lyrics of a popular gospel song and I have decided to make this adaptation because Imolites will be happy and fulfilled by the time my prayers in this motion are assented to by this Honorable House.
Mr. Speaker, nothing will interest and impress Ndi Imo than this move to correct the excesses & anomalies exhibited & perpetrated by the immediate past administration especially in the area of land grabbing and illegal conversion of individual and public lands to personal use by the last governor and his family members as well as his aides.
Mr. Speaker, I made a resolution and got the approval of my immediate family not to delve into anything, any issue that concerns the former 1st family of this state, for very personal reasons, but for the high expectations of Ndi Imo who voted us to come and rebuild Imo, for the cries, yearnings and groaning of many helpless citizens who are suffering this fate, I took a U-turn.
Mr. Speaker, it is a known fact, well established and undeniable that land grabbing and illegal conversion of people’s lands was the order of the day in the last dispensation. In fact it was their stock in trade.
I know of a widow whose husband’s only land was grabbed and converted to a private school belonging today to an aide to the former governor- I know of a family friend who died of heart attack when he get frustrated with the high costs of ligitation over his land that was grabbed. Most worrisome Mr. Speaker, is the impunity, the inhuman effrontery with which the illegality was perpetrated even in most of the well known public properties- for instance the IBC staff quarters in Orji, Uratta, Owerri North.
Mr. Speaker, as a Media Executive, I know how it feels to work in a state owned media House where you give in your best, with just meager wages, only to be thrown out one morning without notice or an alternative accommodation- whereas the facility is your basic fringe benefit or entitlement while in service- only because the governor desired to have his private school sited there. What can be more disheartening and devastating in life?
Mr. Speaker, the examples of such helpless and hopeless situations arising from such illegality of grabbing & conversion of lands is endless. I therefore pray this Honorable House Mr. Speaker to constitute a judiciary panel of enquiry as well as public complaints committee to receive complaints from affected Imolites, as well as conduct investigations to ascertain the status and genuiness of ownership of such landed properties- whether developed or not.
I assure you Mr. Speaker, Distinguished colleagues, that the revelations & expositions will be shocking. Ndi Imo will be happy again, public confidence in Imo government will be restored especially where punitive measures are taken. I mean where those found guilty of such criminal actions will be made to face adequate punishments, it will also serve as a deterrent in the future, even to us.
It will serves as a deterrent even to us
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