From Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu
The Enugu State Chief Magistrates’ Court, yesterday, remanded an architect, Jude Emejulu, and one other in the Correctional Centre for allegedly demolishing parts of the concrete perimeter fence of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
Emejulu and the others were said to have been arrested, last Friday, by the Nigeria Air Force operatives at the scene of the malicious act, with those he brought, destroying the fence, and were handed over to the state Police Command.
He and the others (and others at large) were arraigned before the Chief Magistrates’ Court in Enugu and charged under Section 1 (3) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act.
When the charge was read to them, they pleaded not guilty to the charge and his counsel, Alex Amujiogu, applied for their bail, which was vehemently objected to by the prosecuting counsel, the OC Legal, Justus Attah, who told the court that the accused has a repeated history of committing the act against the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) in the past.
The presiding Magistrate, Apollonia Edeani, after listening to the arguments of the two counsels, ruled that Emejulu and one other be remanded in Enugu Correctional Centre, while the case file will be transmitted to the Director of Public Prosecution ( DPP) for advice.
Meanwhile, residents of Oriental Estate, Enugu have called on the federal government to take a decisive action against Emejulu, who they said has made it a habit to demolish the concrete perimeter fence of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, and threatening the security of the airport and residents of the estate.
But landlords of the estate, who spoke to newsmen, at the weekend, called on both federal and state governments to come to their rescue, as the said man has been terrorising them for some weeks now with police and armed thugs.
Emejulu, who claims ownership of the land where the estate is sited and parts of the area fenced by FAAN, parades court orders and documents, and was always given police escort to execute his court order like when he demolished long stretch of the concrete perimeter fence of the airport, then under construction, necessitating the total demolition of his residence, a duplex in Enugu by the state government, and his going into hiding as the Minister of Aviation then, Sirika, declared him a wanted man.
The landlords expressed shock that the police in Enugu state would escort Emejulu to forcefully break keys of the entrance gate of the estate to gain access to the fence of the airport, to destroy the federal government property.