The invitation follows a petition by the Centre for Social Justice, Equity, and Transparency, which accuses Nwankwoeze of land racketeering, money laundering, and false asset declaration. The committee, citing Sections 88 and 89 of the Constitution, warned that failure to appear would not stop the hearing.

Meanwhile, FCT Minister Nyesom Wike faces separate allegations of land grabbing, with some property owners accusing his administration of revoking and reallocating lands to his associates. Wike has denied the claims, challenging anyone with evidence to come forward.

One of the complainants, Chief Rita Lori-Ogbebor, alleged that the FCT Administration revoked and reallocated her late husband’s property in Abuja within weeks, issuing a Certificate of Ownership to a firm linked to a former lawmaker. She has called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene.

The hearing is expected to shed light on the allegations and determine accountability within the FCT land administration.

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The Executive Director of HDAN, Festus Adebayo, who spoke with journalists in Enugu during the on- going conference of Nigerian Institute of Town planners , therefore, called on the FCT Minister, Bar Nyesom Wike to sincerely declare a state of emergency on land in the territory.

He said, “The masterplan of the FCT is in disarray; it requires surgical operation, and the FCT minister must declare a state of emergency on the FCT urban planning system. So many damages have been done. The system is no more going in line with those who saw the vision of the FCT and gave the master plan.

“Firstly, the number one problem with the planning of FCT is that there is no detailed information on existing approved layouts – resulting in fake layouts overlapping it.

“This information, if it is made public, can enable investors to know the right information that will save them from falling victim to land racketeers.”

Adebayo alleged that staff of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) were colluding with the racketeers to destroy the masterplan and also fleece developers.

“Today, 70 per cent of cases in courts in the FCT are land related, which is why the real estate sector in the nation’s capital is at risk.

“We are calling on the government of the FCT to look into the areas where the planning system of the FCT has been abused,” he added.

He also called on the ministry to be wary of politicians who are desperately looking for land to grap. We must not put the real estate sector in FCT in danger.

Meanwhile, the Director, FCT Development Control Department, Mukhtar Usman Galadima, in a separate interview, warned that those that want to circumvent the development process would have their buildings removed while stiffer penalties would be applied like imprisonment to deter people from violating the process.

“Also, for any staff found to be involved in any scam, the civil service rules would apply, and this may lead to dismissal because some illegalities arise from compromise from within and we don’t compromise,” he said.

Galadima explained that the process of building in Abuja starts with obtaining valid title documents, and urged developers to go to the Development Control Department whenever they are ready to commence construction.

He said the department is currently in the process of simplifying the process of acquiring building approvals in such a way that all lands based on their districts would be put on its website, indicating the type of development required.

He said, “For commercial development, there are certain required documents, e.g. environmental impact assessment report, and if it is going for more than two suspended floors, there has to be a soil investigation report to tell us the type of soil and whether it has the carrying capacity and even the type of foundation that you’re going to have.

“When all this is done, there are teams that will visit the site and compare the documents and reports you submitted.

“Once we’re satisfied with these, we now look at the drawings viz-a-viz our requirements in the manual and compute what you are expected to pay to the government – the building plan processing fee – and when you pay that, we stamp your drawing and convey approval to you.”

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“Even where such cases are filed within the division, they are returned to the Chief Judge so that I can assign them.

This will enable me to keep track of where such cases have gone.“I want to assure that the era of that kind of mistakes is gone; I want to assure you once more that we will do our best within the ambit of the law to ensure you succeed,”

he said.He explained that the visit was to congratulate the minister and assured him of the support of the FCT judiciary. (NAN)

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At least two directors in the Land department of the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA) and the Department of Development Control (DDC) have been indicted by the police on allegations bordering on land speculation and racketeering and will soon be charged to court.

They were alleged to have connived with a suspected land speculator, Yakubu Daniel Ogwu to forge documents relating to plot 1308 Cadastral Zone A09, Guzape district of the FCT, Abuja.

The development is coming at a time the Minister of the FCT, Nyeson Wike has vowed to eliminate land speculators and restore the nation’s capital master plan.

Already, scores of demonstrators and experts in land administration who bemoaned the activities of land speculators and racketeering in the city, have thrown their weight behind the minister.

Wike had specifically warned land speculators that a new sheriff is in town. “And those doing land marketing, the period for that is over.”

The police are specifically pressing charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery, obtaining by false pretense and impersonation.

This development is a fall out of an investigation by the police over the ownership tussle between an engineering firm, Cona Engineering and Technical Services Nigeria Limited and one Yusuf Daniel Ogwu over a piece of land located at plot 1308 Cadastral Zone A09 Guzape District Abuja.

The company had mobilized to site for construction activities before Yusuf Daniel Ogwu surfaced with the said forged R of O claiming to be the original owner of the land.

However, available title documents showed that by virtue of the Certificate of Occupancy granted to Jamila Saleh Hassan on June 6, 2007 (file No: 20400), she became the beneficial owner of plot 1308 Cadastral Zone A09 Guzape District, Abuja.

That Jamila Saleh Hassan, through an irrevocable and registered Power of Attorney donated the above plot to Sunday Benjamin Egele sometime in June 2014.

However, Sunday Benjamin Egele through a power of Attorney, donated the same property to Cona Engineering and Technical Services Limited, in December 2018.

Before the execution of the said power of attorney between Sunday Benjamin Egele and the engineering firm, the company applied for the consent of department of lands through an application for search and the said property was certified unencumbered.

In addition, Mr. Sunday Benjamin Egele also tendered the search report which he obtained from the department of lands prior to the execution of power of attorney between himself and Jamila Saleh Hassan.

Armed with the above documents, the company comfortably consumated the transaction.

Thereafter, the company obtained building plan approval from the Department of Development and Control on October 17, 2019 and mobilized to site and started construction fully on October 16, 2020.

However, the Department of Development Control on October 16, 2020, wrote the company suspending the building plan over alleged ongoing investigation on the property following ” a letter of complaint of illegal trespass received by the department,” the letter reads.

Two years, after the letter of suspension of building plan approval, the department had in another letter dated April 29, 2022, re-instated the building plan approval after the company had signed a deed of indemnity.

In the final analysis, investigation by the police on the disputed land indicted the suspects including the complainant, Daniel Ogwu.

Investigation by Daily Sun revealed that the activities of land speculators have made land ownership a nightmare for potential investors.

The incident has become so bad to the extent that incidences of double or multiple land allocation has become the norm rather than the exception.

Thousands of Nigerians have fallen victims to the dangerous activities of land speculators in Abuja, with scores of them losing precious properties worth millions of naira, including lives in the process.

Read Also: FCDA

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