Minister, of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has disclosed that some officials are conspiring with land grabbers to work against the federal government on the issues of land allocation in Abuja.
Wike said some of the people calling themselves investors bought hectares of land and started reselling to Abuja residents, with the connivance of legal and land secretariat.
The minister said this during a press briefing with select journalists in his office in Abuja, while reacting to the allegations by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the SNECOU Group Limited, Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, that he wanted to deal with Igbo people.
Ukachukwu had said FCT minister ordered the demolition of investment on 214 hectares of land in the Asokoro district of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The Anambra-born businessman accused Wike of ordering the demolition without any court order despite pending valid two court orders from separate courts restraining him and the FCT administration from tampering with the property.
In his media chat with journalists, Wike said such cases on his desk were numerous, and thriving because of the corrupt civil servants aiding and abetting the property investors he called “land grabbers”.
He said they were defrauding people and the government by buying land in large quantities and reselling to residents, after they might have told the government that the lands were for investments.
“They are conniving with the legal secretariat here. Do you know we can sack them? Sack the land administrator? Have you seen the court judgement? Go and read the court judgement and see whether the court says the land is their own?” Wike asked.
“They went to tell the court to say tell FCTA to return our documents they are holding. I met these matters here. They were over 1000 cases on lands. As the court says ‘FCTA release their documents’ , does that show that you’re entitled to the land? There is no way they would go in there. It is our property!”
Speaking about the conspiracy of how they get court judgement, Wike said, “Do you know after they filed a suit against us, they made a deal with the law secretariat. They brought an external lawyer, and the external lawyer will agree with them, and the judgment will be served. I’ve never seen how corrupt human beings can be.
“The point I’m making is that all sentiments that I’m revoking people’s lands (is) by law. Nobody has said you revoked the land because I’m a Yoruba man. Nobody has said you revoke the land because I’m a Hausa man. What has this gotten to do with Igbo? What kind of a crazy, childish sentiment is that? He queried.
