Members of the Congregation of the Holy Sisters of the Needy resident in Area A of World Bank Housing Estate of Imo State were on Monday the 6th of August 2018 beaten up by a group of seven thugs bearing machetes and three armed mobile policemen. These group of thugs came at the instance of a man identified as Mr. Paschal Nwakanms who parades himself as the Special Adviser to the Imo State Governor on land matters. According to eye witnesses on ground, Mr. Paschal Nwakanma came in a Kingsley Uju, (Imo State Deputy Chief of Staff) Sienna branded car and a Hillux Jeep.
The group arrived the convent of the sister at about 1:00PM and tried to enter the convent gate where a construction work was going on under the supervision of Special Hold Development Company. Being that the security man out of apprehension did not open the gate to unidentified persons he saw bearing arms, the thugs resulted to bringing down the fence of the compound with sledge hammers.
The Catholic Nun Rev. Sis. Clare Marie Ukaegbu in charge of the convent when alerted to the invasion of their community quickly rushed out to find out what was happening was called unprintable names and was physically assaulted by Mr. Pascal Nwakanma for daring to challenge him.
In the bid to capture that dastardly act by Paschal and his thugs, a young man by name Justice Ogadinma was beaten to pulp and stupor and given a cut on the left eye for daring to record what was happening and the facilities of his phone totally re-setted.
One Mr. Fati Popoola (a welder) at the construction site was given several lashes of machetes for daring to stop the thugs from destroying the DPS of the proposed building in progress with the sledge hammers they came with.
In a similar token, a lady who gave her name as Juliet Isaiah who also spoke to us did not escape the fury of Pascal Nwakanma and his thugs as she was given a beating of her life.
Speaking to us, the helpless and defense Nuns revealed that the land which Mr. Paschal Nwakanma was trying to grab from them was given to them by the Imo State Government on the 23rd of December 1994 and covered by the statutory Certificate of Occupancy (CO) NO: 4/4/308/ with Plan number: OWR (M) 589, situated at Area A of World Bank Housing Estate of Imo State.
According to one of the Nuns, Rev. Sis. Trinitas Ngu who also spoke to our correspondent, said that they had on numerous occasions reported the same attempts to grab their land to the Imo State Governor, His Excellence, Governor Rochas Okorocha who minute that their property should not be tampered with,
coupled with several letters from their solicitor to necessary and public authorities to stay off the property of the Catholic Nuns.
When asked why he was bent on grabbing the property of the Catholic Nuns, Mr. Paschal Nwakanma was reported to have said the piece of land was much for them to own hence the need for some portion of the land to be taken away from them.
Speaking to us, the CEO of Special Hold Development Company told our correspondent that the thugs after they had beaten up the Catholic Nuns, a young lady (Juliet Isaiah), Mr. Justice Ogadinma and his workers in the site took away all his construction instruments as they could not fight back given how armed and battle ready Mr. Paschal Nwakanma and his thugs were. As at time of filing the report Mr. Justice Ogadinma who was beaten up and given a cut under the right eye for trying to capture the mayhem unleashed on the Catholic Nuns was rushed to the a nearby hospital for treatment and to forestall damage to his eyes.
The Catholic Nuns, therefore, calls on the Catholic Church in Owerri Archdiocese, all good spirited individuals, the Christian bodies, and the government of Imo State to save them from Mr. Paschal Nwakanma who parades himself as the special assistant to the governor of Imo state on land matters, as they live in apprehension of further eventualities from Pascal Nwakanma and his thugs.
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