The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution to probe alleged fraudulent land allocations in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) before the appointment of Nyesom Wike as minister.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance by Rep Jonathan Gaza Gbefwi (SDP, Nasarawa).
Gbefwi while moving the motion alleged that several land title documents were fraudulently allocated to real estate developers between May 29, 2023 and August 21, 2023 when Wike was appointed FCT Minister.
He said, “The House observed that in the period, May 29, 2023 – August 21, 2023, several title documents on land in the FCT were issued to some real estate developers in a highly suspicious manner.
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“The House wonders 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.
“The House is concerned that some of the lands affected were subject to litigation which were yet to be resolved.
“The House is disturbed 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.
“The House is convinced that if the title document of any land is fraudulently issued or procured, whatever is built on it should not stand in the interest of the public.”
The House resolved that such multiple land allocations should be identified and their allocation withdrawn by the minister pending the resolution of the matter.
The matter was referred to the Committee on FCT to investigate and report back within four weeks.