The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate all allocations of land by the Minister of the FCT from May 29, 2023, to Aug. 21, 2023.
The resolution was a sequel to the adoption of a motion by Rep. Jonathan Gbefwi (APC-Nasarawa) on Thursday in Abuja.
Moving the motion, Gbefwi explained that, by virtue of Section 297 of the Constitution, the ownership of all lands in the FCT, is vested in the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He said that Section 302 of the Constitution provides that the President may appoint a Minister who shall exercise powers and perform such functions as may be delegated to him.
“Aware that President Bola Tinubu was sworn in on Monday, May 29 2023 and the current Minister of FCT, Mr Nyesom Wike assumed office as the FCT Minister on the August 21, 2023.
“Observed that in the period May 29, 2023 to Aug. 21, 2023, several title documents on land in the FCT were issued to some real estate developers in a highly suspicious manner.
“I wonder if the Director of Lands or any official of Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) issued Right of Ownership (R of O) purportedly in the name of the FCT Minister at the period when the office of the Minister was vacant,” he said.
The lawmaker said that some of the lands affected were subject to litigation that was yet to be resolved.
According to him, some of the beneficiaries of these alleged fraudulent allocations are already using them to forcibly grab disputed land, which is a recipe for conflict.
He said that if the title document of any land is fraudulently issued or procured, it should not stand in the interest of the public:
The house recommended that all such lands, which are subject to litigation or multiple allocations, should be identified and their allocation withdrawn by the Minister pending the resolution of the matter.
In his ruling, the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, mandated the relevant committees to investigate and report back to the house within four weeks.
