By Jude Michael
The Ufuma Community in Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra State has called for the intervention of the Anambra State Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, over a plot to cede their land to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH).
Some members of Umuogem Village in a press statement issued to journalists in Awka accused an indegene of the community and the Chief Medical Director of NAUTH, Nnewi, Prof Joseph Ugboaja, of fighting tooth and nail to take a large expanse of their land for the hospital project, even when his intention was to later acquire the land for himself.
This is coming as Ugboaja had denied the allegation, saying there was an MOU which stated the real reason for acquiring the land, which, he said, was for construction of a hospital.
The indigenes expressed dissatisfaction over the manner of acquiring the large expanse of land, accusing Ugboaja of bullying and intimidation, just to acquire the land.
‘We are happy that an extension of NAUTH, Nnewi will be built in our village through the efforts of our illustrious son. It is a welcome development.
‘But soon after the promise of the hospital and the land donation, wisdom prevailed on some elders in the community to have the request for the land documented.
‘This angered the Professor and consequently there were threats, molestation and attacks orchestrated by youths on the payroll of the Professor.
‘Parents whose children were given jobs at NAUTH, Nnewi, were threatened to support the project without conditions or have their children sacked from the job.
‘Some of the people who are demanding proper documentation have relocated from Ufuma for fear of possible attack by the rampaging youths,’ the elders said.
They accused the CMD of violating the constitution of the village and removing the village leadership who opposed his plan.
‘We are calling on our governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to intervene before this matter takes a different dimension.’
Ugboaja has however denied the allegations, insisting that the land was duly donated by the community for the construction of a branch of NAUTH to cater for the health needs of the people.
‘You know some of our people are backward, and because there have always been stories of people appropriating communal lands, they think that this may be one of those.
‘The Governing Council decided to establish the teaching hospital annex in a bid to expand healthcare services. The land acquired for the project has been properly gazetted and an MoU has been signed for the land to be used for the hospital.
‘Overtime, some people in the community were accusing us of wanting to appropriate the land in the guise of building a teaching hospital, but the MoU clearly stated that the land will be used for no other purpose than the building of the hospital.’
On the allegation of removing village leaders opposed to his will, he said: ‘What I know is that youths in the community have been having issues with those managing communal land. So during an election this year, a new leadership was installed and the chairman started having issues with the people and they suspended him and later removed him.
‘In all the meetings I had with them, I preached peace in the community. I’m an elder in the community and all I can do is to advise them and also try to tell them the right thing to do, so that they don’t do the wrong thing while we are here,’ he stated.
