Posted by From BASHIR UMAR, Abuja on
The Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), currently probing the administration of the federal capital since 1999, was informed on Monday that family members of former President Olusegun Obasanjo got 15 plots allocated to them in the FCT.
…El-Rufai gave relatives 19 in choice areas
The Senate Committee on the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), currently probing the administration of the federal capital since 1999, was informed on Monday that family members of former President Olusegun Obasanjo got 15 plots allocated to them in the FCT.
Among the allocations were three made to Obasanjo Farms Nigeria Limited, belonging to the former president, including one on May 28, 2007, the eve of his departure from office.
Similarly, 19 plots were allocated to relatives of former FCT Minister, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
General Manager, Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS), Mr. Ismaila Iro, who made the disclosure while testifying before the Senate committee in Abuja, also revealed that a total of 51,133 plots had so far been allocated in the FCT.
Answering a question from a committee member, Iro said 15 plots that were revoked were allocated to members of family of former President Obasanjo.
The plots, according to the AGIS general manager, included a piece of land measuring more than one million square meters initially allocated for the building of American Hospital in the FCT.
Iro said the allocation was revoked and the land was re-allocated to Obasanjo, a day before he handed over to President Umaru Yar'Adua.
He alleged that about 19 plots, which were revoked because they were on sewage lines, were later re-allocated to relatives of the former FCT Minister, Mallam El-Rufai. Out of the 19 plots, three were allocated to one Bashir El-Rufai, he added.
He said the plot of land belonging to a former Inspector General of Police, Musiliu Smith, which was revoked, was one of the 19 plots allocated to Mallam El-Rufai's relatives.
Asked why he did not advise the minister against re-allocating revoked plots, Iro explained that the minister had the statutory responsibility to allocate plots.
'Our own is to carry out the directives of the minister. I don't think it is fair to revoke a plot because it is on sewage line and re-allocate it to someone else," he said.
He, however, said that he was not in-charge during the period as he was appointed AGIS general manager only last year.
Iro said that 37,938 plots were allocated between 1999 and 2003, just as 2,807 plots were revoked between 1999 and 2007.
The plots were revoked for various reasons, including over-riding public interest, breach of provisions in the Certificate of Occupancy, restoration of the Abuja masterplan and multiple allocation, he said.
Iro said that the primary reason for the revocation, in many cases was non-development, in line with the provisions of the statutory laws.
Also testifying before the committee, former Director in the FCT Administration, Mrs Jumai Kwanashe, revealed that any time allocations of special nature were to be made instruction came directly from the office of El-Rufai and keyed into the list of the Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS).
Mrs. Kwanashe stated that she was not aware of ever giving advice to the minister over the reallocation of revoked plots to the former minister, even though she admitted that such revocations and reallocations actually took place while she was in office.
Meanwhile, former Senate President Pius Anyim has demanded
N149.6 million from the FCT Administration for the demolition of his property at plot 1377 Zone A4, Asokoro.
In a submission made by his lawyer, Mr. Abimbola Kayode, to the Senate Committee on FCT, Anyim said N120 million was for the demolished property. He said another N29.6 million was the money he paid to prevent his other property at plot 1376 Zone A4, Asokoro, from being demolished, and should be returned to him.
Anyim said El-Rufai, in company of other officials of the ministry, came to his residence in June, 2003, to inform him that his property were wrongfully allocated.
He said: 'I then showed them my documents, which indicated that the properties were validly allocated.
'On November 5, 2005, the minister came again, saying they had instructions to demolish my properties, which they valued at N120 million each.
'They then went ahead to demolish one of the properties, and asked me to pay N120 million to salvage the other one.
'I informed them that it was practically impossible for me to pay N120 million, and El-Rufai later informed me that the amount had been reduced to N29.6 million."
Anyim said no reasons were given for the demolition of the property, since they were neither on sewage lines nor waterways.
He said the property were developed by him, adding that there was no justifiable reason he should be asked to pay.
Also testifying before the committee, former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero, denied withdrawing the protection given to the late Justice Bashir Sambo before his ejection on August 8, 2006.
He said: 'If somebody said that El-Rufai phoned me to withdraw police protection from the late judge, that is hear-say. Let El-Rufai himself come and say so.
'If the situation is quite clear to me then as it is now, those policemen should have been brought to book by now. I didn't provide the policemen that went to evict the late judge.
'Those policemen that have gone beyond their mandate and acted ultra vires ought to have been disciplined by the Commissioner of Police."