The Anambra State Government has sparked widespread outrage following the demolition of structures along the Nnewi-Owerri Road as part of an ongoing road expansion project.

The operation, led by the state’s Physical and Building Control Agency, began on Wednesday in Nnewi, affecting hundreds of buildings, shops, and businesses, most notably a partial demolition of the head office of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing.

Videos from the scenes showed how the affected buildings were rendered useless while the owners were seen lamenting the loss.

The demolition exercise has, however, sparked off a chain of reactions and counter-reactions, both among the affected landlords, concerned authorities, and social media users.

While the affected persons insisted they were not properly notified, others accused the authorities of bias, alleging that the perimeter fence of a church (name withheld) was deliberately left out even though it was conspicuously blocking a drainage channel.

Speaking to our correspondent in Nnewi, on Friday, one of the affected landlords, Chief Emenike Gabriel, said, “We were not properly notified about this demolition. They did not carry out the exercise with due diligence.

“Some of these buildings have been existing for over 70 years. They said they marked the buildings for demolition, but most people did not know that their buildings were marked for demolition, and if it was marked, they should have given us time to relocate.”

But defending the action of the state government, in a press statement on Friday, the Commissioner for Works, Ifeanyi Okoma, explained that all the affected buildings were marked for demolition in December 2024 and the people were duly informed.

Okoma confirmed that the Head Office of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing was among the buildings.

He said, “These buildings were marked sometime in December or January. We are not looking at individuals; it is something that cuts across the whole place, and it is not personalised and it is not for political witch hunt.

“Even the Catholic Church and every other building that is along the road were not going to be exonerated. These roads were designed to decongest traffic gridlock experienced during festival periods.

https://punchng.com/outrage-as-anambra-begins-demolition-for-road-expansion/