Obi urges Pope's intervention over forceful ejection, destruction of wife's shop

 

By Okechukwu Onuegbu 

The Coordinator, Recover Nigeria Project (RNP), Comrade Osita Obi has called for urgent intervention of Pope Leo XIV in settling a dispute between the Catholic Diocese of Awka and his wife, Beatrice Obi.

According to Obi, Catholic Diocese of Awka allegedly destroyed the goods and shops rented by his wife and about four others citing court order obtained from an Awka Magistrate Court presided over E. C. Chukwu.

The court had in a judgement between the registered trustees of the Catholic Diocese of Awka and Rev. Fr. Nicodemus Izuchukwu (Awka Property manager) as plaintiff and unknown persons ruled "PW2, Rev. Fr. Nicodemus Izuchukwu stated that he is the priest given the authority to manage the property at No. 27 seaman avenue/Secretariat road, property of Catholic Diocese of Awka. That the former priest managing the property died and as a result of that some unknown persons came and occupied the said property.

"That every attempt made to evict them proved abortive. That the plaintiff wants to make personal use of the said property. That the defendant was duly served with the appropriate notices but he failed to appear in court to answer to the claims against him. Despite proof of service in the court's file, the defendant did not take any step to defend the claim against him."

Also, the Cathedral Administrator of the Awka Diocese, Rev. Fr. Charles Ndubisi had in an interview with some journalists said that his church would not be blamed because the enforcement was carried out by the court.

But Obi at a press conference held in Awka, on Tuesday, insisted that neither his wife nor other occupants of the shops were served the court notice, adding that destruction of their shops were supervised by a notable priest in the Diocese.

He added that the items in the wife's shop destroyed together with sickness currently being suffered by the wife worth N25m and he could only forgive if the Church tender a public apology to the spouse and others whose shops were destroyed.

According to him, Chidi Osakwa was the person they paid to and obtained receipt, and if the Church had won against their landlord they should have reached out to the occupants for discussion.

"I am not contesting ownership with them. Let them do it. My own is forceful evasion and destruction of my wife's properties. I am giving them two weeks to reach out to the victims. If they fail to do that, I will proceed to court," he noted.

Another victim of the shop eviction, Mr Chijioke Okafor, who deals in motor spare parts, confirmed Obi's position noting that items destroyed in his shop and emotional pains sustained from the act could not be quantified with money.