Anambra business man teaching hospital at loggerhead over land
Business man Benjamin Ubakeze of Onitsha and the management of Iyienu Mission Hospital, now University on the Niger Teaching Hospital, in Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area, Anambra State, have been at odds for some time. Recently, the hospital’s management tried to block Ubakeze’s business premises by putting a built-in container in front of it.
Speaking to reporters in Onitsha on Tuesday, Ubakeze and his spouse Felicia said that the hospital had brought the metal store, also known as the “container,” on purpose in order to “maliciously” obstruct their business’s entrance.
He said that the contractor who oversaw the construction of the Old Nkpor Awka Enugu road had previously used the park as a landfill, but that he had been given permission to develop it following proper procedure by the hospital’s former administrator, Rev. Cannon John Amizu, who is now retired.
In order to raise funds to clear the dump site and turn the aforementioned portion of land into a relaxation park, he and his wife sold their shops at Textile Market, Niger Bridge Head, Onitsha, and Oyeolisa Market, Ogbunike. However, less than a year after he moved into the shop he had built to service the relaxation park, the hospital’s new administrator—who had succeeded Rev. Canon Amizu—served them with a notice to quit.
Before the dispute with the management, according to Ubakeze, an evangelist in the Diocese of the Niger, Anglican Communion, he was the hospital’s evangelical director, hospital visitation team leader, and leader of the prayer team in the Chapel of Divine Compassion, the Anglican church.
“My wife, an international business woman, and I invested over N50 million to build this park and make it what it is today,” he added. “However, we are requesting that the hospital management pay us only N36 million, as we stated in court.” When they attempted, without success, to expel us through the back doors, they brought us to court.
“The N36 million that we are requesting from them via the legal system covers the verified costs associated with the park’s development on business. We never imagined that they would one day come up with the concept of forcible eviction without enabling us to recover the costs we incurred in constructing this location, and I firmly think that we were serving God.
We even appeared in court on Tuesday. To our astonishment, on Wednesday, a Venerable from the Diocese of the Niger led a group of individuals and gave them an order to dump a manufactured metal trade container at the entrance to our business, which serves the leisure park.
“We advised them to hold off until the court made a decision on the issue. They shouldn’t enact their own rules and rely on self-help. The church ought to lead by example by abiding by the law.
“We did not purchase this location; instead, they gave us the space, which we then developed, decorated, and constructed the store to their specifications. We began leasing the area for N18,000 to N60,000 per month. Even though the case is still pending in court, we have continued to pay them. 2023 has been paid for. We will pay for 2024 in a few days.
“All we are asking at the court they brought us to is for them to reimburse us for the money we spent if they choose to kick us out. We’re going to leave the premises today if they pay us the N36 million. is not our land; instead, they gave us the space, and we constructed everything that you see in the park.
When reached, a senior church member—who yearned for anonymity since he lacked the authority to discuss the matter—stated, “We went to drop the container as the property owners and the man prevented us.” At that moment, he remarked, “We shouldn’t leave him.”
