Following the unsealing of the Renewed Hope Partners (RHP) building at No. 36 Ojike Street, Umuahia, the Abia State capital, the state government has explained that the sealing of the property, in the first place, was not politically motivated.

Mr Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, who is the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Governor Alex Otti, noted that the property, alongside many others in Umuahia, was sealed by the state Harmonised Task Force, as part of a blanket enforcement of court orders.

The property was formally commissioned by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and marked Renewed Hope Partners (RHP). It was gathered that sealing of the properties was targeted at the landlords, who defaulted in their ground rent obligation to the state, and not at the tenants.

Renewed Hope Partners is said to have rented the property, while the owner had defaulted in paying the ground rent to the state government since 1982, with the lease expiring on December 31, 2025. The CPS, however, announced that the property had been unsealed following directives from the governor.

“The Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, brought the matter to the governor’s attention, and the unsealing was promptly executed pending the regularisation of the building’s documentation,” the CPS said.