Tension as Catholic Church drags Property with deceased Priest’s family
By John Okezie
Tension is currently brewing in Anambra as the Catholic Diocese of Awka is currently pushing to reclaim a property allegedly acquired by one of her deceased priests outside the ordinance of the Catholic faith as regards personal acquisition of property as a priest.
To this end, tenants along Anambra State Secretariat Road Awka have alleged their loss of over N15 million on the account of eviction by the Magistrate Court judgement without prior- notice following a court action instituted by the church to reclaim a building owned by one late Reverend Father.
AbeyaNews reports that tenants who are largely shop owners had come to work Thursday morning only to encounter security operatives and Court bailiff presenting to them a Court Judgement which ruled that the initial landlord of the building is not the bonafide owner of the property.
In Obedience to the Court ruling, security operatives threw out their wares after forcefully opening their shops under the rain
It was however gathered that the property in question was built by a late Rev Father who allegedly handed over the building to his nephew whom the tenants addressed as the landlord before the Court judgement.
But the Awka Catholic Diocese approached the Court which ruled that it belongs to the church and not the Rev Father’s nephew.
Lamenting their predicaments, one of the affected tenants, a Human Right Activist and Convener of Recover Nigeria, Osita Obi contended that they do not have any problems with the ownership of the building but that the tenants would have been given prior-notice about the possible eviction in order to allow them remove their property.
“We have no problems over the ownership of the property and we are not challenging who owns the building but our worry is that we should have been told or put on notice over the pending matter at the Court and our former landlord did not inform us about the matter”
“This is my wife’s shop and she is not in town and I went to see my physiotherapist when I got a call that my wife’s shop is being opened by security operatives and that was how I got here.
Obi further contended that had it been that the church informed them at least two days to the eviction, they would have evacuated their goods and allow the judgement to be executed, adding that over N5m have been lost by him while his co-tenants who had paid rents a month before the eviction and carried out some works on their shops as well as perishable goods have lost millions estimated at over N9m and we do not know what next to do.”
