The 90-hectares of land a former House of Representatives member, Ned Nwoko, allegedly grabbed from his kinsmen in Idumuje-Ugboko, a farming community in Delta State, has pitched the community against the billionaire.
Ned Nwoko has accused his kinsmen of plotting to kill him over his acquisition of the said land which he said he would use to build a private university in the community.
But the community however accused Ned Nwoko of displacing them from their lands forcefully in what they described as land grab.
A report by an online newspaper, PREMIUM TIMES, had reported how the billionaire, in 2015 grabbed the 90 hectares of land in Idumuje-Ugboko and used security agents to intimidate members of the community who challenged his acquisition of the land.
The community did not take the land grab lying low as they also mounted a spirited challenge against the billionaire.
In the press statement, Nwoko, who said the university has already reached 95 per cent completion with an Olympic standard sports facilities in it, alleged that his kinsmen were trying to assassinate him because of the project.
According to Nwoko, the alleged plot to assassinate him was exposed on social media by an inmate in Kuje Prison who overheard two fellow inmates discussing the plot.
He said the matter had been reported to the police.
Nwoko said the inmate, who exposed the plot, died three weeks ago after being inundated with threat messages since his release from the prison.
He said an autopsy was being carried out to determine the cause of his death. He said the family of the deceased informant would have been at this conference but for fear for their lives.
He said the inmate “was able to get the information on social media and the attention of my wife, Regina, was drawn to it. I then reported the matter to the police and Department of State Security (DSS) and they went and interviewed the inmates involved. The inmates mentioned the name of one businessman who deals in the oil and gas sector as the mastermind.
“I was reliably Informed by my wife, Regina Daniels, who was also Informed by one Mr. Wale Jana, that the suspects, who were arrested and remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre in connection with the murder case in my village, are plotting to cause me harm and possibly kill me.
“I came to this conclusion because, according to the report sent to my wife by Wale Jana; it said an inmate in the same room with the suspects at the correctional facility, who pretended to be sleeping, heard them plotting to harm me by conspiring with others outside the prison yard.
“From what he heard, the sponsor of the planned attack owns a filling station and is in the business of oil and gas and hails from the community around. As far as I know, the only person that fits that description is one Chief Gabriel Ogbechie,” he said.
