The Other Side of Abuja Land Grab Story
By Anza Philips, Abuja
Monday, May 05, 2008
Nasir el-Rufai, former FCT minister tells his own side of the story on the Abuja land allocation scandal
It was a tension soaked session as Nasir el-Rufai, former minister of the Federal Capital Territory appeared before the Senate committee on FCT and Housing probing the sale of federal government houses and other related matters on Wednesday, April 30. The session which lasted for a little more than four hours was characterised by all manners of questions spanning his four-year tenure and all the issues raised by the numerous petitioners, to which el-Rufai provided answers.
In his 99-page presentation to the committee, which was yet to be exhausted and admitted as exhibit by the committee, el-Rufai said contrary to several claims presented to the committee that he owned 17 plots of land in the FCT, he was allocated two residential plots before July 2003. These are Plot 2551 A04 Asokoro in 1998 and Plot 1368 B01Gudu in 2002. According to him, he had instructed the revocation of the Asokoro plot for non-development and it was re-allocated to a valid applicant in 2007. He said: "I do not have any other plot in the FCT other than the one arising from the house I bought under the sale of government houses programme, that is No.12 Mambilla Street, Aso Drive, Maitama. In 2000, when I was director-general at the Bureau of Public Enterprises, I bought a terraced apartment under a sublease in Stallion Estate, Lobito Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja." el-Rufai explained that he never allocated any plot to himself or any fictitious name or any front company during his tenure as FCT minister.
On el-Rufai family's land titles in Abuja, he said, contrary to the campaign in the media, the following are valid titles granted in favour of his extended family members during his tenure: Hadiza Isma el-Rufai (spouse) Plot 3350/A04 01/2005; Hadiza Isma el-Rufai (spouse) Plot 1417/F01 02/2006; Asia Ahmad el-Rufai (spouse) Plot 3376/A04 01/2005; Bashir Ahmad el-Rufa (brother) Plot 1381/A07 01/2005; Binta Ahmad el-Rufai (in-law) Plot 871/B04 03/2006; Maryam Bashir el-Rufai (in-law) Plot 4321/F01 05/2007; AVM Ali Rufai(retired) (brother) Plot 822/B19 08/2004; Ibrahim Ahmad el-Rufai (brother) Plot 3677/A06 06/2005; Zainab Ahmad el-Rufai (Niece) Plot 44/B19 10/2007; Hauwa Aliyu el-Rufai (Niece) Plot 206/E08 05/2007. "In response to the various claims from AGIS and the media about plots of land that members of my family and I own in the FCT, I declare as follows: "The claim that Nasir el-Rufai has 19 plots is false; The claim that the el-Rufai family members got 19 plots allocated to them under my tenure is false; the claim that a plot on water line was re-allocated to my brother is false," the former minister said.
According to el-Rufai, many of the victims of the demolition exercises embarked upon under his administration bought land from a fraud syndicate headed by one Engineer Success. He listed those who fell into the hands of the fraudsters to include the former senate presidents, Anyim Pius Anyim, the late Senator Evans Enwerem and the former deputy senate leader, Jonathan Zwingina. He told the committee that Engineer Success was currently being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The former minister said that another member of the syndicate, Alhaji Kamba, had already been investigated by the EFCC and had been released because there was no concrete evidence to prosecute him.
According to him, Engineer Success did his NYSC in the FCT, so he used his knowledge of the FCT land and set up a forgery syndicate. He spoke against the backdrop of the complaint by Anyim over the demolition of his mansion in Asokoro District. Anyim's building was demolished because not only were the documents forged but even the development control approval was also forged.
In the case of Senator Zwingina, the situation was even worse as he allegedly introduced most of the senator victims to Engineer Success.
On the sale of the vice-president's guest houses to him and two others, el-Rufai said the decision was reached and endorsed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to take care of some public officers whose houses were exempted from sale. The former minister said that consequent upon a memo raised by him, the VP's guest houses were put up for sale because the decision had been taken that the next vice-president would occupy Akinola Aguda House. According to him, Obasanjo had also approved that the guest houses of the vice-president should be located within the Presidential Villa. This necessitated the sale to himself, Akin Osuntokun and Alhaji Tijani Abdullahi. According to him, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar wanted to buy one of the guest houses, but never submitted application forms.
On whether former President Obasanjo owns land titles, el-Rufai insisted that contrary to claims presented to this committee, Obasanjo and his company, Obasanjo Farms Ltd were only allocated the following plots in FCT: Plot 831 AO5, Maitama in 1988 (Residential); Plot 1 L05, Kuje in 2005 (Farmland); Plot 2368 C02, Gwarimpa (Commercial) in 2007; Plot 589 A00, Central Area (Commercial) in 2007. As far as I know, no other plot of land was allocated to President Obasanjo and Obasanjo Farms other than these four mentioned above. The late Stella Obasanjo was allocated the following plots in her lifetime Plot 1 B04 Jabi in 1993; Plot 3445, A06 Maitama in 2000; Plot 150, B19 Katampe Extension in 2002.
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