St Lazarus Catholic Chaplaincy laments land encroachment by Controller, Correctional Center …Urges Uzodimma to intervene

The Catholic Chaplaincy, Federal Correctional Center, Owerri, has lamented alleged encroachment of land by the Controller of Federal Correctional Center, Owerri, Mr. Kingsley Njoku.

The Church alleged that the Controller, out of his biasness for Catholic Church, has thwarted an already established law which it said gave birth to the Chaplaincy at the Owerri Correctional Center, by encroaching and fencing the land belonging to it without consulting or engaging the stakeholders.

Speaking to journalists who were invited to assess the fencing on Monday, Chairman, St. Lazarus Catholic Chaplaincy, Federal Correctional Center, Owerri, Rev. Fr. Jude Onyeakazi, explained that the Controller allegedly forcefully encroached the land that belongs to the Church and started fencing it.

He added that in order to maintain orderliness, peace and the status quo of the Chaplaincy, the Church went to Court, regretting that the Controller of Prisons, Owerri, who happens to be a citizen of Rivers State and an Anglican by faith, ordered his boys to chase away the Balliff who he mentioned came to serve them notice of summon.

Onyeakazi

Onyeakazi who noted that the land was officially approved for the Chaplaincy on 14th day of July 1999 by the Nigerian Prisons Service, advised the Controller to stop further work on the land pending the outcome of the matter by the Court of competent jurisdiction.

“This Chaplaincy came as the fruit of the law, officially gazetted by the Federal Correctional Center itself from Abuja. We have documents as evidences, the Church and the Prisons have been cooperating even cordially, but we wonder why the current Controller does not want to tow the dignified footsteps of his predecessors who were very abreast of the rich contributions of the Church to the Prisons especially as it relates the rehabilitation of prisons inmates. He is religiously bias and such a person should not be thrusted with public position as that of the Prisons”.

“The dirt coming out from the Prisons Yard is hazardous. This caused many members to stop coming to the Church and we spent huge money to channel the dirt. We are saying no to encroachment of our land, intimidation and harassment by the Controller and his boys. The Archbishop of Owerri Diocese, Most Bishop Lucius Ugorji, knows about the issue of encouragement and the suite in court”, he maintained.

The Chaplain maintained that the Catholic Church provides 70 percent of virtually everything (infrastructure, (shoe-making) in the Prisons as parts of its apostolic mandate, saying the material provisions, spiritual, physical, psychological support to the Prisons inmates by the Church cannot be overstressed.

The Church hence urged Governor Hope Uzodimma to urgently intervene in the land dispute to ensure that the Church land is not encroached by the Prisons to avoid further breach of law, peace orderliness and security in the state.

Reacting, one of the officials of the Federal Correctional Centre Owerri, who did not want his name mentioned, told journalists that the reason for the fencing is to curtail future attack at the Prisons, alleging that those who attacked the Owerri Prisons few years ago came through the Church.