House Investigates Fraudulent Land Documents Issued Before Wike’s Appointment 

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja 

The House of Representatives resolved to launch an investigation into the fraudulent allocation of land documents in Abuja before the appointment of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

The decision of the House followed the adoption of a motion moved at the plenary on Thursday by Hon. Jonathan Gbefwi.

Presenting the motion, he said by virtue of Section 297 of the Constitution, the ownership of all lands in the FCT is vested in the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He explained that Section 302 of the Constitution provides inter alia, that the President may, in the exercise of the powers conferred upon him by Section 147 of the Constitution, appoint for the FCT, Abuja, a Minister who shall exercise powers and perform such functions as may be delegated to him by the President, from time to time.

Gbefwi added that President Bola  Tinubu was sworn in on Monday 29th May 2023, marking the start of the four-year term as President and Kashim Shettima as Vice President

The lawmaker stressed  that Wike assumed office as the FCT Minister on the 21st of August 2023.

He lamented that several land title documents were fraudulently allocated while the FCT Minister position was vacant.

Gbefwi wondered if the Director of Lands or any official of the FCDA, who issued R of O’s, purportedly in the name of the Minister of FCT, at the period when the office of the Minister was vacant, have the legal right or authority to do so.

 
He expressed concern that some of the lands affected were subject to litigation which were yet to be resolved.

The lawmaker decried that some of the beneficiaries of these alleged fraudulent allocations are already using them to forcibly grab disputed land which is a recipe for conflicts.

He said  if the title document of any land was fraudulently issued or procured, whatever is built on it should not stand in the interest of the public.

The lawmakers who observed that some of the land documents have been backdated, unanimously resolved that all such lands which are subject to litigation or multiple allocations, should be identified and their allocation withdrawn by the Minister pending the resolution of the matter.

The House, therefore, referred  the motion to the House Committee on FCT and report back within four weeks, for further legislative action.

Meanwhile, the House laid the report on the capital expenditure supplementary Appropriation bill of N98.500 billion for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).

The breakdown of the N98.500 billion showed that the sum of N48.500 billion is for Engineering Services, FCDA; N18 billion is for FCT Education Secretariat; N16 billion for Public Building; and N16 billion for the Department of Transportation.