Enugu government denies land grabbing claims against its officials

The Enugu State Government has strongly rejected claims of land grabbing made against its officials by Sahara Reporters, an online news platform.

The government explained that a report from July 14, 2026, is about the New Enugu Smart City and Coal City Eastern Alliance Estate. They believe that a proper investigation would have clarified the facts.

The report mentioned several individuals, including the current Secretary to the State Government, Chidiebere Onyia; former Commissioner for Housing, Martins Chukwunweike; former General Manager of Enugu State Housing Development Corporation, Gerald Asogwa; and former Legal Adviser to the Governor, Osinachi Nnajieze. It claimed these officials were beneficial shareholders in Coal City Eastern Alliance Limited. The report stated that the state government took lands from communities and individuals and gave them to this private company.

However, Malachy Agbo, the Commissioner for Information and Communication, issued a statement on Wednesday. He cleared the government and its officials of any wrongdoing. He noted that the mentioned individuals are part of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). This is a common practice to protect the government's interests.

Agbo pointed out that the current and former officials were merely nominal shareholders and directors. They serve on the boards of these Enugu State-owned companies as trustees for the people’s interests in special projects, as required by law.

"The motive of the story is betrayed by the writer’s intentional avoidance of evidence and facts, which would have cast doubt on the headlines and negated the conclusions reached by the report," Agbo said.

He added, "While the story claims that Enugu State government officials on the board of these SPVs were land grabbers, it ignores that these board members did not benefit a kobo from the company. Not even a sitting allowance was paid to any of them."

Agbo further explained that the report wrongly suggested that the officials were set up by the Governor to take company resources. He stated that previous administrations managed those state-owned companies, and their involvement ended when their terms finished.

He said, "The story falsely alleges that the Secretary to the State Government owns 30 percent of the government company. But common sense tells us that if the SSG and others have the same positions as before, there would be no assets or shares left to transfer to them."

The government emphasized that the current board members of these SPVs are nominal shareholders and directors, representing state interests only.

Additionally, Agbo criticized the report for showing a lack of understanding of how SPVs work. He explained, "The nominal shareholders and directors who run the SPV on trust for the State have not taken actual ownership of the company’s assets. Many other Enugu State-owned companies also have similar officials as nominal shareholders and directors."

He continued, "These roles are passed down through different administrations over the years. If these officials truly owned shares, there would be nothing left in the companies for the state."

The government dismissed Sahara Reporters’ claim that their article was thorough investigative journalism. Agbo said a proper report would have gone beyond just gathering public information from the Corporate Affairs Commission.

He stressed that if the reporters had put in real effort, they would have discovered that all assets of the Coal City Eastern Alliance Estate Ltd were transferred to the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation. This corporation has been in charge of the projects since 2024.

Agbo said that the New Enugu City Management Agency is a government agency. He stated that having government officials on its board is just for administrative purposes, not like a business board.

"We believe that this basic knowledge should have guided Sahara Reporters. A thorough investigation could have saved them from having to correct the story multiple times due to inaccuracies," Agbo concluded.