Some documents obtained by SaharaReporters have raised serious questions over the management of thousands of hectares of disputed land earmarked for the New Enugu Smart City project, with evidence suggesting that top officials of the Enugu State government are directors and persons with significant control in a private company allegedly used to acquire, allocate and sell lands to private buyers.

The documents include records from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), official government correspondence, payment advisories, allocation letters and public notices issued by the Enugu State Government over several years.

The records appear to show an overlap between public officials entrusted with managing the disputed Ugwuaji land and a private company that subsequently became one of the major entities marketing and allocating plots within the same area.

Among the documents reviewed by SaharaReporters is the CAC Status Report of Coal City Eastern Extension Estate Alliance Ltd, incorporated on December 29, 2021, with registration number 1878141.

The company lists its principal business as Construction and Management of Real Estate.

The CAC documents seen by SaharaReporters on Tuesday identify several senior officials in Governor Peter Mbah’s administration as directors or Persons with Significant Control (PSC) in the company.

Among those listed are: Prof. Chidiebere Rapheal Onyia (The current Secretary to the State Government (SSG) under Gov. Peter Mbah) became an active Director and took over 300,000 shares (30% control).

Martin Ogechukwu Chukwunweike (Enugu State Commissioner for Housing and incumbent Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State) became an active Director and took over 225,000 shares.

Gerald Ugochukwu Asogwa, now Senator representing Enugu North Senatorial district and former Director General Campaign Organization of Peter Mbah election in 2023, became an active Director and took over 225,000 shares.

James Onyeanwuna Ikeyi, SAN, a senior legal practitioner and the Chairman of the Enugu State Government’s panel on the reconciliation of revoked estate properties in the Ugwuaji communities which report was not made published, is an active Director since the establishment of the private company and took over 225,000 shares.

Osinachi Austin Nnajieze was appointed the new Company Secretary.

The CAC report indicates that some of the listed individuals hold between 22.5 per cent and 30 per cent ownership interests in the company.

The documents also show that the company remains active.

The revelations have drawn particular attention because two of the officials associated with the company previously played official roles in a government inquiry established to resolve ownership of the same disputed land.

On September 2, 2020, the Enugu State Government announced the constitution of a six-man Administrative Panel of Inquiry into the Ugwuaji Land Dispute, with James Onyeanwuna Ikeyi and Robinson Odo as chairman and secretary respectively.

The panel was mandated to: “establish the true owners of the disputed land; determine the exact size of the disputed area; ascertain individual claims and titles; and make recommendations capable of ensuring lasting peace.”

Pending the panel’s findings, government directed that all activities on the disputed land cease immediately.

In a Public Service Announcement dated September 2, 2020 (Ref: ENS/ADP/ULD/CR.1/HE/2020), signed by the panel’s secretary, Robinson O. Odo, the government ordered a complete freeze on the land:

However, rather than resolving the dispute, the panel served as a reconnaissance mission for state-backed land grabbing. The report of the panel was suppressed, and the lands were systematically acquired by the government under the guise of “overriding public interest.”

Instead of developing the “acquired” Ugwuaji land for public utilities, the very officials who instituted the freeze floated a private real estate firm to exploit it.

However, documents now obtained by SaharaReporters indicate that Robinson Odo and chairman later became one of the principal figures behind Coal City Eastern Extension Estate Alliance Ltd.

Similarly, the latest government notice redesigning Phase Three of the New Enugu Smart City into a satellite town was signed by Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, another official listed among the company’s persons with significant control.

A surveyor familiar with the dispute questioned what became of the panel’s report.

“What happened to the report of this panel? It is a shame how the Chairman and Secretary of the Committee became founders of Coal City Eastern Extension Estate Alliance Ltd, owners of Coal City Eastern Extension Estate/New Enugu Smart City,” the surveyor told SaharaReporters.

On July 7, 2026, the Office of the Secretary to the State Government issued another public announcement concerning the New Enugu Smart City.

The notice informed residents that Phase Three had been redesigned into a satellite town and warned that “no land transaction within the government acquisition area would be recognised without government approval”.

The notice equally directed persons who had previously acquired interests in the area to present their documents to the Ministry of Lands before July 31.

The announcement was signed by Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, the Secretary to the State Government.

Documents obtained by SaharaReporters include payment advisories issued by Coal City Eastern Extension Estate Alliance Ltd.

According to a senior surveyor familiar with the transactions, many investors believed they were dealing with an officially recognised government-backed estate.

“Public sales through private bank accounts. What do you call this management structure?” the surveyor asked.

Another document reviewed by SaharaReporters shows the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation (ESHDC) offering multiple plots located within the Coal City Eastern Extension Estate.

Several landowners affected by the project insist their ancestral lands were acquired without adequate compensation or lawful acquisition procedures.

One of the affected persons told SaharaReporters that individuals and companies that previously acquired legitimate interests in the land are now being displaced.

Several investors who spoke to SaharaReporters have raised several questions that authorities may need to address, including:

“Whether public officials serving in sensitive government positions should simultaneously exercise significant control over a private real estate company involved in transactions linked to government-acquired land.

“Whether the recommendations of the 2020 Ugwuaji Administrative Panel were completed, submitted and implemented.

“Whether all land allocations and sales complied with the Land Use Act and other applicable laws.

“Why payments relating to plots in the estate were made into private company accounts in some instances, while other allocations were processed through the Enugu State Housing Development Corporation,” one of the affected investors who gave his name as Odo Chukwuebuka questioned.

By using official government decrees to invalidate private land ownership under the guise of public interest, and then immediately transferring those same lands to a private company owned by the SSG and the Housing Commissioner, the Enugu State Government has successfully run a multi-billion naira corporate land-theft cartel.

Efforts to reach the SSG, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, for comments on his direct ownership of shares in a company utilizing state-acquired lands were unsuccessful at the time of filing this report.

While the government has maintained that the New Enugu Smart City project is intended to modernise infrastructure and urban development, the emergence of corporate records linking senior government officials to a private company involved in estate development is likely to intensify calls for an independent investigation into the ownership, acquisition and sale of lands within the project area.