Sophia Michaels
Haasan Rabiu, a retiree from the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA), is presently in a conflict with Ramatu Jummai Aliyu, a former Minister of State for Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to SaharaReporters, the dispute revolves around her purported utilization of associates within the FCTA to take control of his land parcel.
Rabiu who is living with a physical disability following a road accident, decried alleged plans by the former minister and a relative who doubles as her Personal Assistant to illegally take his land.
Speaking with some journalists in Abuja, recently, he explained that his landed property which is covered by a statutory Right of Occupancy (R-of-O) issued to him by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2001 has been a subject of controversy in recent times.
According to him, this followed the antics of some gangs in the Department of Planning and Development Control who specialised in forging new layouts and scheming out the original owners with fake papers.
He recalled that the Personal Assistant to the ex-minister had approached him as a former staff member of the FCDA to learn from him and promised to help him recover the land which was taken over by a syndicate at FCDA.
He said that acting in good faith, considering his physical disability, he handed over the original land documents to him. He said the minister’s PA said his principal was interested in the vision and mission for which the land would be used and wanted to be part of the project when the plots of land were recovered.
In this vein, a 50/50 stake was agreed and a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to that effect in the hope that the ex-minister would help him recover his land and they would partner on the projects, he explained.
The senior citizen regretted that shortly after they allegedly tricked him and the papers of the landed documents were handed over, the PA came back with a different story, claiming that he had lied and had no land in the said area.
Rabiu also said that the MOU which was to be signed by the ex-minister after he had signed in the presence of his wife, Binta Rabiu was never returned to him to have a copy of his own.
Because of his condition, the former FCDA staff member said he could not physically go out to meet the minister because of logistics challenges but trusted the PA to act in good faith.
Instead of withdrawing from the MoU since according to them, Rabiu had no land in the said location. the PA – in what appeared to Rabiu to be the ex-minister’s script – resorted to writing petitions with the motive to blackmail and intimidate the landowner with bogus claims including financial commitments without any evidence to tender.
The aggrieved landowner noted that what was contained in the petitions was different from the terms in the MoU.
“The first petition was to then-Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN). The Attorney General dismissed the petition for lack of evidence corroborating the claims as the petitioner had malicious intents including to publicly humiliate Rabiu and his wife by presenting them as common criminals with their pictures boldly pasted on the petition,” he asserted.
According to Rabiu, reprieve came his way when Modibo, a neighbour indicated interest in buying his land to be used by a government agency.
“The agency wanted 12 hectares to build the housing estate for staff,” he said, adding that an investigative committee including the Director of Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) and two others, were commissioned.
“They found out that the land actually belongs to him thereafter, ministerial approval was entered and captured in the first satellite cadastral imagery of Abuja with servers domiciled with Julius Berger,” he narrated.
This, Rabiu pointed out puts the PA’s claims in disrepute and exposes their plan which was never to help at all but connive and usurp an innocent man’s land.
However, even with the investigation duly completed, only the first parcel of land with 37 hectares was approved by the minister in May 2023, with R-of-O’s issued on the plots with new file numbers.
“Subsequently, a letter of authority was written to the Minister of FCT for the release of 12 hectares of land to the agency with 11.4 hectares eventually released to it. Although the land was originally meant for the agency’s cooperative, the N700 million agreed with the head of the agency has not been paid,” he said.
He noted shortly thereafter, the said PA and his cronies again wrote another petition to the agency’s head claiming a breach of partnership. Their claim was to the effect that they had paid him some money as part of the partnership.
“However, there are no receipts, bank statements, and any agreement regarding any payments,” he said.
Rabiu further disclosed that the MoU was entered into based on the recovery of stolen lands and a 50/50 stake in the legacy projects on the lands. “There couldn’t have been any financial involvement without first recovering the land which the PA and the Ex-Minister of state for FCT could not do.
“After failing to intimidate the agency’s head who reached out to Mr Hassan and got the true story of their schemes and conspiracies, the PA again wrote another petition to the Committee that was set by the Minister that affirmed Rabiu’s ownership to the land, misleading the Director of AGIS and other committee members with the same distorted facts. Again no evidence was tendered except empty claims of having a stake in the land rather than the legacy projects that were covered in the MoU.
“Almost one year after getting ministerial approval for the 37 hectares of land reclaimed by Rabiu, through a court process as received. It is pertinent to point out that the issues mentioned in the MoU are different from those included in the petitions and also very different from those mentioned in the court process. It is also absurd to note that the PA and his cronies know nothing about the land including the number of hectares and other identifiers.
“Again in the court process, two different companies were listed as complainants; SID-TRAC NIGERIA LIMITED and MAMSIDAI NIGERIA LIMITED, obviously belonging to the Ex-Minister of state for FCT and her PA. No such thing was mentioned in the MoU. It is even more ridiculous that the two companies are now claiming a 40% and 30% stake in the land contrary to the 50/50 percent stakes in the projects that were agreed upon if they can help in recovering the stolen lands.”
“Unfortunately for the cartel, the land they are trying to collect is not the one with the Ministerial approval. The PA allegedly bribed the FCDA gangs with money and they made a design for him which is included in the petitions, changing everything including the name of the original owner,” he explained.
When SaharaReporters contacted the said PA on the telephone, he bragged that Rabiu was “cup is full!”
According to him in a WhatsApp message, the police are aware of the matter, and so are other relevant authorities.
The PA said: “You even know the irony; he has an agreement which he doesn’t want to honor.
“The company has taken him to court on this matter, and the police are aware of the matter, and so are the authorities.
“Unfortunately, he wants to add a libel and defamation suit to his bags of criminality. The law is fully ready for him this time though. He’s aware of this and is trying to resort to his favorite pastime of cheap blackmail.
“Kindly tell him his cup is full! The court has some of the evidence and will get more if he attempts to deny it.
“I’m only open to discussing with you because I’m under the impression you have merely been misled (and not that you are working for him). And I advise you, if Rabiu can attempt to swindle the people who helped him and collect land papers behind their backs without honouring his bond, then imagine what he can do to you when he no longer needs you.”
He also claimed that Haasan wanted to use the media to whip up sentiments against them after collecting millions of naira.
However, when SaharaReporters contacted Haasan on Wednesday to react to the claims, he said, “They have gone to court and had petitioned several security agencies including Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
“In all their claims they have not been able to show how, when, and where they paid him money into the project and shares allotted to them. If someone said he paid or I defrauded him a certain amount of money the person should be able to have records of such payment(s).”
“A further indication of intent to defraud, exhort and intimidate me I received, just last week, a call from this number ***2225 purportedly from one Mr. Justice Alex of the FCT police command, inviting me to the command to answer to a petition against me by these same persons.
“I asked for a written letter of invitation and received none to date. Is this not a case of a classic attempt at harassment and intimidation? You can call and verify the number and the caller.”
Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of the former minister were unsuccessful as she didn’t answer her calls. Also, she didn’t respond to a text message sent to her mobile line seeking clarifications.
