Former governor Jim Nwobodo has dismissed reports of tension in Nkanu land, clarifying issues surrounding the Enugu estate land dispute and urging the public not to be misled by false narratives.

Nwobodo, a former Governor of old Anambra State and Senator that represented Enugu East at the National Assembly between 1999 and 2003, laughed off a report claiming the presence of “uneasy calm” in his Nkanu community  over a land dispute.

The elder statesman and one of the two surviving governors of the 1979-83 set of governors, dismissed the report with a wave of the hand. He described it as part of the orchestrated campaign to smear his name by one Basil Ogbuanu, who is battling a criminal case in court.

Nwobodo, an octogenarian, was reacting to a story published in ThisDay newspapers on Sunday, August 2, 2026, describing how “tension has enveloped Nkanu land in Enugu State as prominent indigenes of the area are sharply divided over the demolition of buildings belonging to a Lagos-based businessman and investor, Dr. Basil Ogbuanu, inside an Estate at the Independent Layout, Enugu.” Nwobodo, who celebrated his 86th birthday in May this year, wondered in which part of Nkanu land such tension existed.

His words: “Anybody talking of tension or uneasy calm in Nkanu, is talking nonsense. That person is a big liar. Nkanu is not somewhere in a cave or some undiscovered place in the earth planet. It is existing as a prominent community in Enugu State. Where is the tension that nobody else has heard of except the one man running from pillar to post in a futile attempt to save himself from the criminal case for which he is now being prosecuted by the police?

“There is absolutely no tension anywhere in Nkanu land. Nobody from Nkanu has ever intervened or spoken to me about Ogbuanu. I challenge Ogbuanu to mention the name of anybody from Nkanu or elsewhere who has spoken to me about the Ogbuanu. That is because of his troublesome character and disrespect for law and order. This barefaced lie about Nkanu land has shown the character of the so-called Pastor.”

The elder statesman, who maintained that Ogbuanu’s problem was self-inflicted, acknowledged that the issue with him started when he (Ogbuanu), began to unravel after purchasing a piece of land from a choice estate located at Independence Layout in the capital city, by going completely against the terms and agreement.

Explaining some of the details of the transaction and the development that followed, the former governor, who expressed regret over the matter, narrated how Ogbuanu, not only secretly went into the estate, before the paperworks were completed by the Enugu State Government, but also attempted to totally deface the ambience.

He said in a statement issued on Tuesday: “This was supposed to be a small estate with specific plan model of the prototype buildings. It was supposed to be a quiet ambience with few high-class residents. From the outset, I told him that the estate was not ready for physical structures yet and that nobody should start building until everything is ready. But this man used tricks on me to sign his papers on the ground that he needed it as evidence to his bank, who lent him money to purchase the land.

“This man did not only secretly move into the land, but guess what he was building – hostels – student hostels – in an environment that was supposed to be exclusive. This was after we had told him from the beginning that the land title required recertification in order to get a Certificate Of Occupancy because in 1975/76 when the land was gotten, the title then was a building lease. It was in1978 that the Land Use Act introduced the issuance of Certificate Of Occupancy.

“Secondly, because an estate has one global Certificate Of Occupancy, the subdivided plots will be issued with subleases, and that can only be done when the Certificate Of Occupancy that is being processed is finally issued. Thirdly, the format and contents of deed of subleases for an estate is quite different from that of a stand-alone plot, and we had reached out to the Ministry of lands and the Ministry of Housing for a format for estates.

“Fourthly, we had arranged for an architectural and layout designs for the estate that would be submitted for approval to the ministry of lands and the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA), before any plot would be developed.”

Continuing, the former governor said: “As an elder statesman, I have always insisted on following the due process and getting all the required approvals from the relevant ministries before embarking on any construction. But Ogbuanu had a different plan which manifested with his lawlessness and disregard for authorities. We explained all these to Ogbuanu and to others who bought plots of land in the estate. We also made it clear that we would refund the full purchase price to any buyer who would rather not wait for these processes to be completed.

“Few days after our agreement to wait for the C Of O to be processed, Ogbuanu brought a power of Attorney and Deed which was prepared in the old company name, a company that had sold its interest and its title to the land to a different entity. He was told the futility and implication of having a document in the name of an entity that no longer have title to the land. He was reminded of our agreement to either wait for the recertification process with the ministry of lands to be completed or get his money back.

“Basil Ogbuanu told me and my wife that he borrowed money from a Nigerian bank and that the bank had asked him to bring evidence of what he spent the money on. My wife told him that she does not believe that a bank would lend him money without evidence of his net-worth and evidence of what he wants to spend the money on.”

Nwobodo said that Ogbuanu later called on the phone and said he cried all night “because the banks were chasing him and he had ran to me and my wife as parents to please help by giving him evidence for the banks to set him free.”

According to Senator Nwobodo, “When a pastor cried all night, then something serious must be happening. In my usual magnanimity, we agreed to sign his documents, but warned him to return them for the authentic and legal title documents.

“As soon as Basil Ogbuanu got those documents, he disappeared and his next move was to start building illegal structures in the form of hostels and a church – building mass houses in the form of commercial properties in a high brow, low density location. This was without any form of approvals from, the Estate, Ministry of Lands and Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority. We started receiving calls from other people who purchased plots in the Estate, complaining that Basil Ogbuanu was defacing the estate, and they all threatened to abandon their plots and leave the estate.

“They said they were scared of living with a miscreant in the same enclosed compound, especially in a small Estate. We got worried and reported to appropriate authorities, and unknown to us the Capital Territory Authority had, in the course of their usual checks, seen the illegality committed by Ogbuanu and marked it. Based on the barrage of complaints, the Capital Territory Authority visited the Estate again and marked “Remove” on the illegal structures, and that was when the structures were almost at a foundation stage. Ogbuanu ignored the several warnings from the authorities, and continued with his construction of illegal building, in defiance of all government warnings.

“That is the simple story.”

“Concluding, the elder statesman said: “Did Ogbuanu tell the world that I have been telling him from the beginning to come and take back his money, the full payment and that he has been running away? How come out of all the people that bought land in the estate he is the only one complaining? These are the questions Nigerians should ask him, particularly the media houses he has been running to in his desperate bid to smear my name.

“Whoever knows Basil Ogbuanu should tell him that I’m prepared to give him back his money, even if it is in public. Let him come and collect his money. I regret listening to those who persuaded me to have anything to do with him, because I was warned. But even at that, no amount of blackmail can make him build in that estate, and no amount of campaign of calumny will save him from his self-inflicted criminal ordeal.”

The Imo state police command says it has arrested four officers captured in a viral video seemingly manhandling and shoving a young man into the boot of a vehicle.

The incident occurred on Sunday, along Human Race Road in Nekede, Imo state.

In a statement, Henry Okoye, spokesperson of the command, said Audu Bosso, commissioner of police in the state, ordered an immediate investigation to establish the circumstances surrounding the incident.

“Preliminary findings revealed that the four personnel captured in the viral video comprised two police officers attached to the Nekede Divisional Headquarters and two Supernumerary Police Officers,” the statement reads.

“They were conducting an operation at a suspected drug trafficking location along Human Race Road, Nekede, during which two suspects were arrested.

“Substances suspected to be Cannabis Sativa were recovered from one suspect, who admitted to selling illicit drugs in the area.”

Okoye said the command condemned the officers’ conduct despite the outcome of the operation.

“Notwithstanding the outcome of the operation, the Imo State Police Command unequivocally condemns the unprofessional conduct of the personnel as captured in the viral video,” the statement added.

“The manner in which one of the suspects was arrested and forced into the boot of a vehicle is unacceptable, inhumane, and completely not in conformity with the Standard Operating Procedures, Code of Conduct, and professional ethics of the Nigeria Police Force.”

The police spokesperson said the case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for a detailed and impartial investigation.

He added that disciplinary procedures had commenced against the officers involved and that the outcome of the investigation would be made public upon completion.

Okoye said the commissioner of police reassured residents of the command’s commitment to combating crime “while ensuring that all policing operations are conducted professionally, lawfully, and with due respect for the rights and dignity of every individual”.

By Dr Reuben Onyishi  (Ugoachataberu)

That Peter Ndubuisi Mbah of Enugu State has done exceedingly well within three years of his governance of Enugu State is no longer news. His deeds are bruited abroad. What, however, is uncommon is the fact that the humongous seemingly uncomeatable target is met in three years. Enugu had never had it so good. Governor Mbah has disruptively transformed Enugu in unimaginable terms. His deeds are so visible you can feel it, touch it, eat it , or stamp on it with your feet.

The targets to revv up the GDP of the state to $30 billion, make Enugu the first choice of investors’ destination, tourism and living, and then reduce poverty to zero percent headcount index in eight years of the Mbah administration are in the hope of being realised, a greater portion having been achieved in three years. Looking at the rating of the state in governance momentum index by the credible institution, Philips Consulting, reputed for excellence statistical rating, Enugu took the lead among the 36 subnationals. This reflects in the state’s economic growth, human capital development and social services. Mbah is intentional about governance and has deliberately taken decisions that have so far catapulted the state to unimaginable quatom leap in economic and human development.

Mbah is highly cerebral and creative. His financial intelligence is topnotch, and this has impacted the state heavily in terms of its revenue stream. As at the end of 2025, the state recorded this unheard-of astronomical increase in its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), raking in the whooping sum of N406 billion. From N37.4 billion in 2023, up from N26.8 billion in 2022, the IGR grew so steeply to N180.5 billion in 2024, and then leapt to N406 billion in 2025. This is as a result of Mbah’s creative genius in financial matters. This sharp rise in IGR is a function of already built and revamped high revenue yielding assets such as ICC, UPPL, Nigergas, Sunrise Flour Mills, Hotel Presidential, to mention no more. The New Enugu Smart City was billed to yield in the first tranche the sum of N300 billion mathematically worked out with precision. Mbah sees money in all the streets in Enugu. Where others walk and pass, Mbah sees value and converts it to asset.

Enugu also came tops in fiscal assessment as it is the most fiscally viable state in Nigeria, as it could clear its financial obligations without recourse to federal allocation. Enugu is not an oil producing state that enjoys derivatives, yet Mbah’s complex-seeing abilities have made Enugu so financially bouyant the state can dare undertake huge projects any other subnational would fear to embark on. Peter Mbah is a gift to Ndi Enugu.

Infrastructural development is one area where Mbah has struck a heroic pose. To attract bees, plant flowers. Mbah has taken ease of doing business to another pedestals through Infrastructural development. The downstream water management system is receiving unreserved attention as water is being reticulated to the unteached. Virtually all roads in Enugu have been paved, and work is ongoing aggressively in the last tranche of roads rehabilitation and construction in the city. Mbah has connected the three senatorial zones in Enugu through a network of roads. Rural roads in various places are also being paved. The state is set for 660 Megawatts of coal-powered electricity. In transportation, we have the multimodal transport system linking land to air. The Enugu Air billed for 20 aircrafts in the fleet, traversing major cities in Nigeria, and soon to connect Africa and the world, is in place. The interchange terminals are in place even as more are coming up in various places in the state. The CNG buses traversing the terminals have made transport fare far cheaper than ever for Ndi Enugu. There is no sector Mbah has left untouched, be it agriculture, trade and investment, energy, tourism, hospitality, health, education, security, just name it. It would take a thousand pages to take on one sector to be able to capture what deeds Mbah has wrought.

So Philips Consulting took time to analyse the subnationals and found Enugu the best improving state in Nigeria. This is a product of well thought out, concentious, intentional commitment to good governance. Mbah actually targets the transformation of the state and it is paying off in all ramifications.That which he promised Ndi Enugu, he has done in three years.