The joint committee made the appeal at an interactive session with officials of the FCDA, Abuja Municipal Area Council and the developers.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP-Kogi), said that the committee would meet with the owners of the estates to determine how they obtained documents for the lands they had built on, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.
He said the committees needed to consult widely with all the relevant stakeholders before reaching a conclusion on the matter.
Speaking on the already demolished Minanuel Estates, Adeyemi said that from the submissions of the representative of the estate, the FCDA and AMAC, it was clear that the land was acquired illegally.
“Since you (the owner of the estate) have told us that you did not get your papers from the Development Control Office and AMAC has said that it did not have the authority to give approval for construction of estates, it means your documents are fake,” he said.
A lawyer to the owner of the estate, Mr. Nwoke John-Kalu, had told the committee that the papers for the land were obtained from AMAC in 2004.
The Zonal Coordinator of AMAC, Mr. Mohammed Loko, however, told the committee that the council did not have the authority to approve land for development of estates.
The representative of FCDA, Mr. Hamza Madaki, told the committee that the developer had been given several warnings to stop work on the site but ignored them and went ahead to build.
Madaki said the developer was doing so on the grounds that when completed, the authority would not demolish the estate on sympathy grounds.
The Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on FCT, Rep. Emmanuel Jime, said ultimately the law courts would decide the matter.
Jime, (PDP-Benue), however, said that the allegation that the demolition was carried out because the plots belonged to members of the National Assembly was false.
According to him, out of the 3,000 plots available on the estate, only 500 were allocated to members of the National Assembly.
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (PDP-Abia) appealed to the committee to do all that was within its power to ensure that the victims of the demolished houses were given some kind of relief.
Meanwhile, Senate President David Mark on Thursday appointed Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP-Delta) as the chairman, Senate Committee on Health.
The Committee on Health was chaired by late Sen. Gyang Dantong.
Mark also announced that Sen. Solomon Ewuga (PDP-Nasarawa) was now the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport while Sen. Magery Okadigbo (PDP-Anambra) was Vice Chairman of the Committee on Health.
Ewuga and Okadigbo were sworn-in as senators in 2012 following their victory in court.
More Stories in News
Source : punchng[dot]com
No comments:
Post a Comment