Former governor of old Anambra state and ex-Senator from Enugu East, Jim Nwobodo, has dismissed reports of tension in Nkanu land over a disputed estate in Enugu, describing the reports as misleading and part of an alleged campaign to tarnish his reputation.

Nwobodo, who represented Enugu East in the Senate between 1999 and 2003, was reacting to a newspaper report which alleged that tension had enveloped Nkanu land following a dispute involving prominent indigenes over the demolition of buildings belonging to Lagos-based businessman and investor, Dr Basil Ogbuanu, at an estate in Independence Layout, Enugu.

The former governor, who turned 86 in May, questioned the basis for the report, insisting that there was no tension in Nkanu over the matter.

“Anybody talking of tension or uneasy calm in Nkanu is talking nonsense. That person is a big liar. Nkanu is not somewhere in a cave or some undiscovered place on the earth. It is an existing and prominent community in Enugu State. Where is the tension that nobody else has heard of except the one man running from pillar to post in a futile attempt to save himself from the criminal case for which he is now being prosecuted by the police?” he said.

Nwobodo further claimed that no person from Nkanu had approached him concerning Ogbuanu or intervened in the dispute.

“There is absolutely no tension anywhere in Nkanu land. Nobody from Nkanu has ever intervened or spoken to me about Ogbuanu. I challenge Ogbuanu to mention the name of anybody from Nkanu or elsewhere who has spoken to me about him,” he added.

The former governor said the dispute arose after Ogbuanu allegedly breached the terms under which he purchased a plot in the estate at Independence Layout.

According to Nwobodo, the estate was conceived as a low-density residential development with specific architectural standards and a quiet ambience, but Ogbuanu allegedly began developing structures that were inconsistent with the estate’s original plan.

He explained that buyers had initially been informed that physical development could not commence until the necessary documentation, approvals and planning processes were completed.

He alleged that Ogbuanu subsequently began constructing student hostels within the estate, despite the purported agreement on the nature of the development.

Nwobodo also explained that the estate’s land title required recertification before individual plots could receive the appropriate documentation.

He said the original title obtained in the 1970s was a building lease and that the introduction of the Land Use Act in 1978 changed the system for issuing Certificates of Occupancy.