Around and about FCT Minister

Among the visitors were people who came from various states to see the Minister, Senator Bala Muhammed. That was the fourth time one Mohammed and his colleagues would be at this office within the frame of one trip. They had been at that office thrice, at each turn they were asked to go and come back   with the reassurance that if they came back, the minister would readily see them.

They waited and got tired. Tired of this situation and almost getting frustrated, they made their bid to see the Minister again so that they could return to their base. Their request, however, met a rather uncultured and overzealous security details in the office of the Minister. Instead of telling the delegation the true situation of things, the Minister’s ADC threw decorum to the wind and started barking at Mohammed and co. In the process, the visitors were rough-handled and forcefully pushed out of the office.  From all indications, these visitors did not constitute any security threat to warrant that kind of treatment. They were actually there to deliver a message.

Common sense dictates that if a visitor comes to your place with a request which is beyond your handling, it is much wiser to be honest with yourself by telling the visitor that you just cannot solve his problem, so that such a fellow can seek alternative. It was not the case with Mohammad and co. that Thursday. They, not only left the FCT Minister’s office unable to see him, they were assaulted and embarrassed.  

 I am a regular visitor to this office and I am not surprised at this turn of event. Those who come here to get one thing or the other have had severally to contend with this kind of embarrassments that has become the norm rather than an exception. Most of us visit this office because officially we have one thing to do with the Minister. Some have to do with the contentious and controversial land matters in the FCT. And they keep asking us to go and come the next day, with assurances that if we return the next time, the Minister would receive us. That Thursday was my fifth visit without me making any head way. I go there with the intent to lodge complain on how the AGIS, directly under the Minister’s supervision, messed up my land allocation.

The Minister does not personally help matters as he is hardly found on his seat. He is more disposed to political activities than discharging his responsibilities as FCT Minister. Only politicians have unfettered access to him. And when they are with him in the office, they spend the whole day talking politics. I am sure this situation has caused many setbacks in the federal territory.

Bala Nuhu writes from Asokoro, Abuja.