Ebonyi denies plan to demolish Elechi’s building

Through it is no longer news that there is no love lost between Governor Dave Umahi and his predecessor, Chief Martin Elechi, Ebonyi State Government has denied alleged plan to demolish a building belonging to the former governor.
Rumours were rife that the state government has perfected plans to demolish the building, which the for¬mer governor quickly built towards the end of his ad¬ministration as his residen¬tial and retirement home at the new city known as Ochuo-Udo city he named after himself.
The state Commission¬er for Lands, Survey and Housing, Sunday Inyima said there was never any move by the government to demolish the building.
He said “stop work” or¬der allegedly written on the property, which is still under construction could be inscribed on any prop¬erty whenever the Capital City Development Author¬ity was doing their duty of ensuring that every build¬ing erected within that city conformed and complied with provisions of the regu¬lations guiding the erecting of structures within that premises.
Inyima further noted that the construction of the building was not in com-pliance with the laid down regulations guiding the new city.
He added that the pres¬ent government was neither planning to revoke the land, which Elechi allocated to himself nor will it demolish his building, adding that the allegation was the handi¬work of mischief-makers.
Inyima urged the builder or the engineer handling the project to comply with the regulations guiding the layout while insisting that the “stop work” order was inscribed on the building for security reasons follow¬ing threats of vandalism by the youths of the area over non-payment of compensa¬tion on their land.
“Governor Umahi saw it as a security threat on the former governor and deemed it very necessary to make sure that there was no security breach within that layout. This formed the reason the Capital Territory Development Authority had to make that inscription.”