•Ex-governor: I won't be intimidated
The Lagos State Government has sealed a property belonging to aformer
Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, located in Park View
Estate, Ikoyi.
The sealing of the house is coming on the heels of Kalu's strident
criticism of Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, over the
forced relocation of 72 residents of Lagos, who are of South-east
origin to Anambra State.
Amnesty International has in fact put the number of those that were
forcibly dumped in Anambra by the Fashola administration at over
9,000.
There was speculation that the sealing might have been done in a
reaction to Kalu's criticism of the forced relocation.
However, the state government has denied allegation of persecution,
saying the property was sealed over Kalu's failure to pay the
statutory annual land use charge despite three separate notices.
It was also learnt that Fashola, on learning about the sealing off of
the property, had directed that it should be reopened.
The governor, however, directed the Land Use Charge agency to give
Kalu an additional 14 days grace to pay the levy.
But the governor also told THISDAY that he had no reason to goafter
Kalu, saying: "To go after someone for freely speaking his mind? No,
we're not that kind of person."
Kalu, in his column in the August 10 edition of Saturday Sun, had
decried the action by the Lagos State Government, which he described
as an affront to the 1999 Constitution that guarantees citizens'
rights and privileges.
"If Fashola did not know, let me tell him in plain language: his
unpopular action has placed him in the darkest part of history
anddrawn the ire of the people. And he has not just one way of not
writing himself into the book of infamy and that is to make
restitution over his decision and offer unqualified apology to our
people, especially the families of those deported," the former
governor wrote in his column.
Kalu, who is in New York, told THISDAY on the phone that he was
informed that his house was sealed at about 4pm yesterday but he had
no details as to why the place was sealed.
"The Lagos State Government cannot intimidate me. It is a wrong thing
Fashola has done and he is pursuing the wrong person. He is not the
owner of Lagos. It is the wrong strategy on the part of the
government," he said.
In another reaction to the incident, Kalu's Special Adviser
(Media),Emeka Obasi, said it was done as a revenge for the criticism
by Kalu, who is the Coordinator of Njiko Igbo, a group fighting the
cause of the South-east.
Obasi said the property had been there for several years and that
sealing it after just two weeks of his boss criticising Fashola over
the forcible relocation of the Ndigbo was an indication that there was
more to it.
He added that Kalu was not the only Igbo to have suffered such fate in
Lagos State "after the wicked and ungodly act of deportinglegitimate
residents of Lagos State."
He said: "Why is it that it is now that the property is being sealed,
barely two weeks after my boss disagreed with the action of Fashola?
"We maintain our stand and this will not distract us from fighting for
the people.
"The action of the Lagos State Government remains unconstitutional
because every citizen of Nigeria has a right to livein any part of the
country.
"Fashola should remember that the Igbo community constitutes about 35
per cent of registered voters in Lagos State and they should be
treated like they matter in the scheme of things."
Fashola's Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Hakeem Bello,
dismissedinsinuations that the closure of Kalu's home was in
connection with his criticism of the forcible relocation of some Igbos
hitherto resident in Lagos.
Bello, in a statement, said: "We wish to state, for the avoidance of
doubt, that nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that
Mr. Orji Uzor Kalu's property in Park View Estate, Ikoyi was
distrained pursuant to Section 40 of the Revenue Administration Law of
Lagos State for failure to pay the statutory annual land use charge
despite three separate notices delivered to the said property."
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