The Chairman of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), Chief Uche Anya, says the military officers from the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Enugu did not beat him but attacked his residential building.

Anya disclosed this when the former members of the Enugu State House of Assembly led by Dr Alex Ogbonnia visited him in his office on Wednesday in Enugu.

He debunked the social media reports that he was manhandled and beaten as well as his Police Aide being killed during the raid.

The chairman rather described what occurred between him and some military personnel as a face-off between ECTDA and army officers.

“Indeed, there was a face off between the government agency I head and the personnel of 82 Division of the Nigerian Army while discharging my duties.

“I am very fine, hale and hearty,” Anya said.

Narrating the incident, Anya said on Dec. 5 the organisation got a report from its development unit that somewhere at Park Avenue, GRA, that a development was going on there.

The chairman said that when they requested for approval from the developers, they refused to speak to them.

He said the unit reported that the area was guarded by soldiers, explaining that, they decided to visit the site to see what was happening but discovered that people were trying to erect a fence.

“We pleaded with them that we are from the ECTDA and needed to see their approved plan and permit but they asked me to call the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division, Enugu.

“But we insisted on seeing their approval which they did not provide leading us to stopping them from working and marked the place with “Stop Work notice immediately”.

He explained that after that, he reached out to the GOC and informed him about what transpired who told him that they were trying to secure their land.

“I told him that under our law, once a development is taking place in the capital territory, there must be permission and that we will do because of anybody to bend the law.

“So three days later, in course of our routine work, we discovered that they have wiped out our stop work order and proceeded with the work.

“We rolled down our equipment and pulled down the fence because they reneged in our agreement,” he said.

Anya further explained that two hours later, he started noticing strange moving around his street with some people taking photographs.

“So around 2:30am, two Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) arrived into my street. Some people in mufti with guns jumped into my compound and I was seeing them through my CCTV.

“They tried to break into the house but it took them almost 90 minutes to break in through the kitchen. Somehow, the Social Media added pepper and salt to what transpired,” he stressed.

While commending his former House of Assembly members for the visit, Anya said the matter had been resolved.

Earlier, Ogbonnia said they were touched by the information reaching them as well as what they read on social media and felt that they should come and visit Anya as a former legislator.

“Anya is one of us. We know his pedigree. He is a meticulous man; a Lawyer, former lawmaker, and a law abiding persona who can not act arbitrarily.

“It is therefore irresponsible for any government to ignore the outright defacement of Enugu based on elite status,” he said.

Ogbonnia remarked that the military went too far and cautioned that we were in democracy and that no person or group should
undermine a constituted authority.

“Enugu is what it is today because of what ECTDA is doing through their urban planning. Unfortunately, most Nigerians don’t observe urban planning.

“What Anya did is to add value to the beauty of Enugu by making sure that illegal structures were not allowed in the city

“We want to use the opportunity to thank God for you and to tell the world that we hold you in a very high esteem,” Ogbonnia said.