The Director of Land Administration, Chijioke Nwakwoeze, explained that there couldn’t have been a mix-up with the records of the FCT administration, stating that the PDP owed ground rent for 28 years, while the FIRS owed ground rent for 25 years.
“We keep good records. In this case, we are talking of 28 years. The owner of this property, Samaila Mamman Kurfi, owed 28 years of ground rent. And then FIRS is 25 years old. So we keep proper records. When you pay your ground rent, you will have to be issued with a receipt of payment. Let the FIRS present the receipt of payment issued by the Lands Department or the FCTA, showing that they paid ground rent for 25 years on the property we went to. So those claims are not completely true.
“Some of them, like FIRS, claim they own the property. But in our records, they don’t. If you buy a property, you have to register your interest. The property which FIRS is occupying, where we just sealed before coming here, is owned by Rana Tahir Furniture Limited.
“When we got there, they said they own the property. But obviously, they didn’t do what they needed to do, so they will be recognised as the owners,” he stated.
Asked whether the defaulters could regain ownership of the land, Nwankwoeze said, “Well, it will be up to them to approach the Honourable Minister of FCTA. FCTA is the owner of the property as of today.
“If they approach him, and he gives them any consideration, that’s it. The minister will decide that. Not me. I’m not the minister of FCTA.”
The Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Lere Olayinka, has denied claims that the physical takeover of the National Secretariat belonging to the Peoples Democratic Party was a political witch hunt against the party.
It was reported that a task force of the Federal Capital Territory Administration on Monday sealed several facilities, including the National Secretariat of the PDP and an office of the FIRS, for defaulting in ground rent payments.
The FCTA had previously announced that it would begin a takeover of 4,794 properties previously revoked by the administration for owing ground rents between 10 and 43 years, amounting to a total of N6.96bn.
The FIRS had challenged the sealing of its office in the Wuse axis of the FCT, describing the action as “malicious” and “unprofessional, noting that the agency was in a “crucial week” in view of the signing of the Tax Reform bills.
However, fielding questions from the pressmen during the enforcement exercise, Olayinka stated that the action was not politically motivated, adding that the exercise would continue until all 4,000 properties were sealed.
“We are not here for politics. If you are talking about a political witch hunt, we have been to Ibro Hotels, we have been to Access Bank, we have been to FIRS, we have been to Total Petrol Station, and tomorrow we will go to other places.
“This exercise will continue as long as we are able to conclude taking possession of those over 4,000 properties. So, are we also going to say all
those that I mentioned are for politics? Moreover, this place is not owned by the PDP,” he said.
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