Something despicable has just happened to
over 2,000 poor Nigerians allocated land in
Gwagwalada, a thriving suburb of Abuja. The
strategic piece of land, measuring over 200
hectares, was allocated to the beneficiaries
drawn from all parts of Nigeria in 1992 when
the Federal Capital Territory was more of a
village than a township. Then, it was like
buying poverty to be given a piece of land
outside Maitama and Asokoro, the two most
developed and preferred districts of Abuja. The
mighty and powerful who control the levers of
government flock around the two areas while
the poor seek solace in Nyanya, Suleja and
Gwagwalada and other slumps that have
sprung up near the FCT.
However, the land allocated to these ordinary
Nigerians was properly laid out and advertised
by the Federal Government under its Site and
Services Scheme through the Federal Ministry
of Lands, Housing and Urban Development
(FMLUD). That was in 1992 when Gwagwalada
was nothing but a thick bush burnished by
searing sun, ravaged by insecurity and
desecrated by land speculators.
But the ever optimistic and patriotic Nigerians,
who had unwavering faith in the system,
damned the negative factors and invested their
money in the said area. As a result, as soon
as the FMLUD advertised for the sale of the
land, the allottees went forward, filled the
papers and paid for the land.
In one of the allocations made with Ref No:
FCT/SAS/GWAL/LD/73, the then Lands
Allocation Committee approved and released
allocations to the over 2,000 Nigerians for the
building of houses. To underscore the
importance attached to the project, the Federal
Government specifically designated the estate
as a low density facility and clearly marked
out the area from other programmes slated for
Gwagwalada.
All the allottees were given the land for an
initial period of 99 years and to pay premium
ranging from N1000 to N3000 depending on
the size of their plots while the ground rent,
due for review every ten years, was pegged at
N100 only.
It was a thing of joy for most of the
beneficiaries, who are civil servants to be
granted such allocations by government and
their joy knew no bounds, especially as the
price of land and house rents began to hit the
rooftops as the years went by and owning a
house in any part of the FCT became a status
symbol.
Although the allottees might have found it
difficult to clear their premium at once due to
the paucity of funds at the time the land was
given to them, most of them had paid up their
premiums and collected their title deeds such
as Certificates of Occupancy.
Armed with their papers, many of them also
began building on their plots to change their
status from mere tenants to landlords in
Abuja. For such persons, they hold the former
Minister of Works and Housing, Maj. General
Abdulkarim Adisa, who signed their CoO in the
year 1998 in high esteem and will always be
grateful to him for his benevolence and vision
to assist them poor and the weak to own
houses in the FCT.
But laudable as the scheme was meant to be,
the high hopes and expectations of the
allottees were cut short sometimes in 2014. At
that time, the then Minister of Lands, Housing
and Urban Development summoned all the
land owners to report at the headquarters of
the ministry with their original letters of
allocation, acceptance letters, payment of
premium and any other documents that would
ascertain their ownership of the land in
question. The allottees complied, producing all
the documents required and thanking their
stars for having fully paid for their plots. For
this class, they were merely waiting for the
government to provide the promised Site/
Services like access road, power and water to
enable them to move into the site and fully
develop their houses and move into them.
Some others, who did not want to wait for the
government had gone ahead and erected
houses on their plots pending when the needed
infrastructure promised by the government
would spring up in the massive estate.
But how wrong were they believe that
government was serious with its promise to
provide services for them after allocating them
the said plots of land? Perhaps, looking at the
strategic location of the land and considering
the value it has acquired over the years and
coupled with the amount of money it can make
in real terms, the FMLUD quietly confiscated
the said plots of land and converted it to a
strange programme called Public Private
Partnership Mass Housing Scheme.
In doing so, however, none of the original
allottees was informed that his land had been
taken over by the same government that
allocated it to them. They were not also
considered as beneficiaries of the new PPP
Mass Housing Scheme, which was put in place
on the last administration.
By the time the owners of the plots reported
on their land a few weeks after verifying their
ownership, the story changed. The land owners
saw strange things on their site which crushed
their spirit and made them to smell a rat at
once.
In place of their property, the allottees saw
huge bulldozers clearing the site and pulling
down any structures on sight without uttering
a word of comfort to them. They are dazed
and short of words.
One of the allottees, a widow and retiree, who
gave her name as Mrs. Fasat Niagwa, said
she had hoped to complete her house and
move in before long, told Sunday Vanguard
that what had been done to her could be
likened to a rape and robbery.
Another disappointed allottee, Fashade Lola,
complained that her building, nearing
completion, was pulled down by the bulldozers
sent in by the former minister of lands and her
officials.
In a strongly-worded petition to the Minister of
Works, Housing and Power, Mr. Babatunde
Fashola, the complainants asked him to
urgently intervene and recover their land for
them.
They accused the former minister of taking
their allocations and giving them to
politicians.
They said: “We had fully paid for these plots
and were duly issued with relevant titles deeds
including the certificate of occupancy and
many of the allottees had moved to their plots
and started some preliminary construction
work at their own pace.
“Work was still in progress when the former
Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban
Development directed us sometime in 2014 to
come forward for what they called
“VERIFICATION OF TITLES” and we all
appeared with our title deeds and were duly
verified and ascertained as the bonafide
allottees.
“Surprisingly, we later got to know that the
then Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban
Development had confiscated the entire plots
under the National Site and Services Scheme
in Gwagwalada and converted it to a strange
and illegal so-called ‘Public Private Partnership
Mass Housing Scheme’ without the knowledge
and involvement of the allottees. As if that is
not provocative enough, agents of the former
Minister moved into our already developed
plots and bulldozed the structures on ground
to give way for their illegality.
“Our plots were never revoked but illegally
encroached upon and confiscated by the
former minister and her agents. They have
commenced development on the land,
destroying existing structures on and have
bringing untold hardship on us the valid
owners of the plots.
Turning to Fashola, they stranded allotteess
said: “We know you are a man of
unquestionable pedigree with zero tolerance for
impunity, injustice and flagrant abuse of the
right of Nigerian citizens under any guise such
as has been meted out on us by your
predecessors in office.
“We write this letter in protest to draw your
attention to our plight and the injustice we and
thousands of other Nigerians who are
beneficiaries of this scheme have suffered in
the hands of the past administration. Our
cursory investigation shows that our plots
were illegally seized and allocated to political
cronies at the expense of the real allottees
with valid titles.
“We aware of your antecedents as the
Executive Governor in Lagos State for eight
years and we strongly believe that you are still
the same incorruptible, fearless and God-
fearing BRF who cannot stand by and watch
this happen to helpless Nigerians.
“We plead with you today to kindly step in and
restore our plots to us in the interest of
justice, equity and fair play which are the
hallmark of this administration,” the allottees
pleaded with the minister.
However, when contacted on the development,
the immediate past Minister for Lands,
Housing and Urban Development, Mrs. Akon
Eyakenyi, said she did not do anything
personal on the said land and that whatever
might have happened there was done in the
national interest.
Eyakenyi told Vanguard that she could not
have taken anybody’s land and converted to
her personal use given her desire to make
more houses available to Nigerians when she
was at the ministry.
“I could not have done anything against my
oath of office and there was no way I could
have taken a decision against the overall
national interest,” she said.
But as the dire situation confronts the poor
land allottees, clipping their hopes in the
balance, fear, anxiety and desperation have
enveloped their troubled lives. And all they ask
is: “Can Fashola remove this burdensome
nightmare from their necks and make them
smile once again?”.
Attached, are pictures of the bulldozers
clearing the land with property of the original
owners for the PPP Massing Housing Scheme.
Title : 2,000 INDIGENT FG LAND ALLOTTEES IN
GWAGWALADA SWINDLED BY OFFICIALS
Description : Something despicable has just happened to over 2,000 poor Nigerians allocated land in Gwagwalada , a thriving suburb of Abuja . The strat...