A group of young men allegedly beat up Delta Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Development, Chika Ossai in Umusadege, a community in Kwale, Ndokwa West local government area of the state on Monday over an allegation of land grabbing.
SaharaReporters reliably learned that the Commissioner had gone to the community with some officials of his ministry and was parceling out plots of land to his friends and cronies when some youths in the area got wind of the development and immediately mobilized to the scene to confront him.
The confrontation reportedly resulted in a fracas which lasted over 20 minutes and the commissioner was eventually rescued from the angry youth by officials of his ministry who accompanied him and other people in the area.
Narrating the incident to our correspondent, a youth leader in Kwale who witnessed the scene said "Chika was lucky if not the intervention of some persons he would have landed in the hospital. Ask people about Chika, they will tell who he is, he is a chronic land grabbing commissioner. Because he wants to run for the position of state house of Assembly, he has decided to be using peoples lands for political patronage. Chika is too corrupt and he want to represent us in the State House of Assembly come 2019.
"Go to Asaba, you will be told the history of his land grabbing exploit. Chika is on rampage, using government mercenaries in grabbing lands from innocent individuals. He came to do same in Umusadege community and got what he never bargained for. Chika is a big disappointment to Ndokwa nation. All he cares about is to use his office to corruptly amass wealth. Who was him before his appointment.? But come to his home town you will be surprised of how he has amassed wealth," the youth leader said.
According to our local sources, the commissioner who hails from the area did not consult with the families and real owners of the lands before he began to carry out the illegal allocations.
A senior staff in the ministry who pleaded for anonymity confided in our correspondent that the land commissioner has penchant for land grabbing in and around Asaba, the state capital, as well as receiving millions of naira from prospective land buyers from across the Eastern part of the country.
"My boss is good at land grabbing using government as a cover. Across the state there is nowhere you will not see his foot print of land grabbing. Pay a visit to the Delta state University, Anwai campus, you will be shocked of his illicit antecedent of land grabbing. The school authority has complaining and lamenting over his attitude of grabbing of lands in the institution. All effort to stop him has remained fruitless," he stated.
The Commissioner, however debunked the claims that he was beaten up. He said he led some officials of the ministry to allocate plots of lands in Umusadege community, Kwale GRA to the beneficiaries as approved by the state Governor when some youths led by one Barrister Obigbore came alleging that the Umusadege community was not informed about the allocation.