Over 200 landlords in the Federal Capital Territory [FCT] whose houses have been marked for demolition have petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] over alleged attempts by some individuals in collusion with officials of the Department of Resettlement and Compensation of the Federal Capital Development Authority [FCDA] to defraud them of monetary compensation from the Chinese construction company – CCECC.
A petition to the anti-graft agency by the landlords indicated that owners of some lands at Bassa Jiwa Village close the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport are victims. They accused the traditional council of Bassa Jiwa village area, officials of the Department of Resettlement and Compensation [FCDA] and other parties of planning to impersonate the true owners.
Their fear is that some who are not real land owners might have presented themselves as such before the construction company that is supposed to compensate them.
The petition written by their counsel, Mr. Innocent Daa’gba alleged that N500 million has been released over a long period of time by the CCECC but was held back from the owners in an effort to deny them compensation.
They alleged that from the 1980s up to year 2013, they had bought plots of land from the original owners of these lands at the village with evidence of sale agreement duly signed between them.
The landlords argue that they have over the years developed their lands and depended on them for livelihood, and also planted economic trees within the lands such other farmlands they had acquired through purchase from the natives.
They told EFCC that they have lived peacefully and enjoyed quiet possession of their properties until sometimes in April of 2010, when they were informed through the traditional council in the company of the FCDA officials and some officials of the CCECC Company that their houses were going to be pulled down to make way for the Abuja light railway line.
“They later did enumeration and evaluation of the houses in their presence where they provided information and the FCDA officials documented them.
Thereafter, nothing was heard from them until early this year when some of them were paid for the economic trees on land/properties as a first phase of the full compensation. However, when payments were to be made for the plots/properties, some parties in the village, mainly the leaders, allegedly refused them receiving payments but rather insisted it is the natives that had earlier sold their lands to the owners that should instead be compensated.
Consequently, the FCDA Department of settlement and compensation issued cheques in the names of persons that are not the real owners of the lands/properties who had earlier supplied information on which these officials acted. The letter also said the natives have used all means of coercion to cow the land owners and ensure that the compensation from the government is diverted to the natives rather than the land owners that had bought and developed them for years.
“The petitioners watched helplessly as the natives collected cheques issued to them by the FCDA at the palace of the Aguma as they discovered that they were issued in the names of the natives instead of the owners of the properties that were enumerated and valued.
“Worst of all, these cheques, all valued over N150,000,000 were open for direct drawing by the FCDA and Access Bank Plc has also already paid cash in excess of N150,000,000 to these people who took these monies away, thereby leaving our clients in the cold.
Right now, the construction company along with the FCDA are ready to move into the village and pull down our clients structures on the ground that they have been compensated, which is not true.”
The petitioners want the EFCC to investigate the circumstances into the development which they insist is fraud against them.

Abuja light rail: Landlords, natives, FCT at war over compensation