The FCT probe: War without end

Taiwo Adisa, Abuja

The el-Rufai showThe public hearing being conducted into the affairs of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the Senate Committee on FCT reached a crescendo on Wednesday, April 30. It was the day the man at the centre of the whole probe, the immediate past Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai appeared before the Senate Committee.

While the FCT Committee had announced at the beginning of its probe that its activities would cover the period from 1999 to 2003, no one was deceived that the real targeted period was the time el-Rufai was Minister, between 2003 and 2007.

The two ministers of FCT who occupied office before el-Rufai; Engineer Bunu Shefiff Musa and Alhaji Mohammed Abba Gana left virtually invisible tracks on their trail that no one could really make them the subject of a serious probe. But the Senator Abubakar Danso Sodangi-led FCT Committee had set aside Wednesday April 30 for the appearance of all former FCT ministers in the immediate past administration.

When the two predecessors of el-Rufai appeared before the Committee, it was apparent they had no strong story to tell. The duo merely sermonized about what they could not do in office. In a way though, their submissions tend to taint el-Rufai, their bulldozing successor as one man who saw the implementation of Abuja Master Plan as sacrosanct.

One of them even suggested that if the Constitution of the country can be amended, why was it difficult to amend the Master Plan.

Whether by omission or commission, the submissions by the two former Ministers who appeared before the Committee tend to align with the thinking that their successor’s reign was tenure of blunders.

That has been the sentiment expressed by some of those who testified before the Committee in the three weeks it took evidence. It has been three weeks of what was seen as el-Rufai bashing.

In fact, the pushing and shoving threatened to consume the committee itself. While allegations were being raised against the former Minister, his publicists did not allow things to lie low. They would pick on each of the allegations and issue a statement to clarify the former Minister’s position. To members of the Committee, that was unsettling and it has to be stooped.

Attempts to do just that brought el-Rufai in direct conflict with the Chairman and the Vice chairman of the Committee. Senator Sodangi was first to raise the alarm, when he warned the Chief of Staff to Mallam el-Rufai, Mallam Balarabe Abbas Hassan to desist from issuing statements to clarify allegations made against his boss at the public hearing. While such a charge was seen as strange, the Committee’s vice Chairman, Senator Anthony Agbo two days after took on el-Rufai again. He warned that statements credited to the Media Aide to the former Minister, which attempt to put records straight, could only amount to contempt of the Senate Committee and that no one has the right to react to what was going on at the public hearing.

When the former Minister’s aides refused to buckle under the Senate Committee’s pressure, Senate spokesman, a retired Journalist, Senator Ayogu Eze was to step in. He warned that the Senate might invoke its power of committal against el-Rufai if he would not desist from responding to allegations being made against him by petitioners at the public hearing.

To many, these were strange measures only the current Senate would adopt. During the coverage of the public hearings conducted into the affairs of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) by the immediate past Senate, Media Aides of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were responding to allegations made against their boss on a daily basis and the Senate did not raise alarm or threaten to commit the then Vice President for contempt.

With such scripts playing out, it was obvious the Senate Committee was boxing itself into a tight corner. While the upper legislative chamber had charged the Committee to investigate FCT administration, it could not have decided to set up a committee that would be seen as biased against one of the subjects of the probe, but that was the sentiment that oozed out of the activities of the Senator Sodangi Committee on most of the days the public hearing held.

It was also a sentiment that painted the picture of a tense hearing for el-Rufai whenever he appeared before the Committee. A number of issues had been raised on el-Rufai’s conduct before he eventually appeared. The Committee too has had to contend with credibility crisis, especially in the wake of the revelations that Senator Sodangi and members of his family got about 20 plots of land in the Abuja land grab, while the Senator, through a letter to el-Rufai also begged for allocation of more plots. There is also the allegation that the Committee Chairman and Vice Chairman applied for and got 58 flats from the FCT administration in the names of Senators who were unaware of the transaction.

Thus when he appeared before the Committee on Wednesday, el-Rufai had a plethora of cases awaiting his clarification. He was also assured of a hostile Committee, in view of the altercations that witnessed in the media, though most members attempted to hide their anger against the man.

Shortly after his predecessors had finished the sermons on their largely uneventful tenures at the public hearing, el-Rufai was ushered into the Senate Hearing Room 1, at exactly 1.50pm.

He came with a prepared statement detailing answers to most issues that have been raised against him. While giving a background, el-Rufai practically questioned the neutrality of the Committee and adherence to the principles of fair hearing when he was not allowed to see a single copy of the over 400 petitions against him.

He did not speak tongue in cheek on the activities of his successor, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, who has been suspected to be one of the catalysts of the Senate probe. Even before el-Rufai raised the suspicion, Modibbo’s overt collaboration with the Committee had raised issues. While the Minister undertook a probe of his predecessor’s activities last year, he did not make his findings public, but the same is said to have been deposited with the Senate Committee on FCT. The Minister’s decision to “gag” the Director of Special Duties of the FCT, Mr. Abbas Umar over the revelation that the Senate Committee Chairman signed for the collection of 58 houses from the FCT was also a curious point.

El-Rufai had submitted as part of his opening remarks that, “I am however concerned that already, some Committee members appear conflicted by their conduct and utterances and seemed to have made up their minds and passed judgment without hearing the other side.

Notably, one of the Committee members had declared el-Rufa’i his “enemy” on National Television. All these lead me to wonder if the Committee will live to its commitment to fair and just hearing in the overall interest of justice.”

He however stated that he was encouraged by the words of the Senate President, Senator David Mark at the inauguration of the FCT Committee, when he insisted on fair hearing.

For a man known as combative and stubborn, el-Rufai was able to present his case with faint notices of such dispositions. He was on the hot seat for five hours, taking questions from members of the Committee, but he remained firm on the microphone. Some of the areas he touched are highlighted.

On the purchase of Atiku’s guest houses: The former Minister submitted that he was the initiator of a memo to former President Obasanjo on the need to cater for government officials who could not buy their official residences in line with the dictates of the guidelines. He stated that he had earlier ensured the renovation of Akinola Aguda House before and got the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to accept moving into the building but that the movement was stalled by the advice of the Chief of staff to the President.

According to el-Rufai. The decision to sell the guest houses of the vice President were taken when it was decided by President Obasanjo that the new Vice President from May 2007 would occupy Akinola Aguda House and that the guest houses of the Vice President must be located within the Presidential villa rather than scattered in different locations in Asokoro.

On antics of his successor: “The current FCT Minister made statements to the Committee on several issues which set the tone for the many petitions and presentations to the committee in the last three weeks of its sitting. I consider some of these statements “gross misrepresentations” and outright distortions of the policies and actions of the FCT during my tenure and it is important to set the records straight.

“The claim that FCT Minister has power to institute any Judicial Commission of Inquiry is not true and is not supported by the provisions of the FCT Act. This claim was made in the context of the Minister’s effort to show that there is no collusion or any instigation on his part in this Senate Hearing.

“While, I welcome this hearing and any investigation of my administration, the issue of collusion, instigation or otherwise would be best left to the facts and Nigerians to judge. The media attacks sponsored by the FCTA clearly show otherwise.”

On demolitions in general: “I was trained as a Quantity surveyor and valuer, so it is very painful for me to bring down a house. I built my first house at 29, so I also know that building a house is an emotional investment for anyone.

“We brought down houses for three main reasons. Some were without C-of Os, some had C of Os but were violating ((right of way, sewage lines, green areas) and some people simply bought land from a fraud syndicate. They were innocent people thinking that the land tenor where they were coming from was the same as in Abuja. For those with genuine papers, we budget N1 billion for compensation every year.

“There is a claim that we pulled down 75,000 houses which I say is impossible. I was Minister for four years and that means that if we demolished for every single day, we had to take down 75 houses per day. It is just impossible because we didn’t have equipment to do that. It can’t just be correct.”

The Minister refused to give a blanket apology to victims of the demolition exercise in his tenure, saying no one has the human right to violate the law. But he stated that some of those who might have been victims of the wrong interpretation of the FCT Act would deserve his apology.

On the Demolition of Ahmadu Ali’s house: “Contrary to the new claim by the FCT Minister that the demolition of the Senator’s house was illegally done, I maintain that the Senator’s house is indeed on Water Line. The Satellite Map (on the screen) clearly shows a distinct Water Line running under Plot 1163 and the demolition carried out was on that part of the property. Moreover, the remaining part of the property, which I left undemolished, would still be affected by the Right of Way requirement of 20m distance from the Water Line. Again the facts speak for themselves on this issue.”

On AIT: “AIT was in flagrant violation of Section 7 of the FCT Act by embarking on an illegal development in the first instance and further committing encroachment on Right of Way and other plots.” On the revocation of Plots of Former Heads of State: “My position on the Minister’s concern on the treatment of former Heads of States Plots is that their plots like other ordinary Nigerians’ are their private business and not a State Matter and hence they should not be exempt from Rules and Regulations governing the terms and conditions of the offer.

“To think otherwise amounts to double standard for people who are already in a position of advantage. All civilized and developed countries require all citizens regardless of status, position or office to live by the same rules and regulations. So if we are to build Nigeria into a just and equitable society, there must not be different rules for leaders and followers.”

On Senators Anyim Pius Anyim, Jonathan Zwingina, Evan Enwerem and conmen, I decided to address these cases together based on the common source of the problem that affected the validity of the titles involved. All the titles relating to these cases were “forgeries” perpetrated by one “Engineer Success” who had a celebrated case and was arrested by the authorities.

In the case of Senator Anyim, he was advised NOT to proceed with building on the second plot while the matter was under investigation but he did not take our advice. Hence the building was removed because not only were the documents forged but even the Development Control approval was also forged. The Senator was surcharged for the other building along with other similar cases and his title was regularized. All the decisions on the two plots of land were made the Federal Executive Council.

In the case of Senator Zwingina, the situation was even worse as we believe he introduced most of the Senator victims to Engineer Success. The Dreams Plaza plot was fraudulently subleased to another party. The two buildings were located on the land designated for “Park” or “Green Area” and therefore treated differently from the Anyim case and completely removed.

All buildings in the vicinity were removed to make way for the Park, including some genuine allocations. Senator Zwingina’s plot was allocated through a public bidding process to a Park and Recreational developer via a sublease.

Although both Senator Zwingina and Dreams Plaza were not entitled to any compensation, we approved the grant of genuine allocations to both parties.

On the late Justice Bashir Sambo: One issue that came for mention severally before the Committee is the ejection of the former Chairman, Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Justice Bashir Sambo from his official residence during el-Rufai’s tenure. The late justice drew pity when he appeared on television with his belongings outside the house. His son, Umar had also appeared before the Committee, shedding tears about the treatment meted to his father and demanding a posthumous apology from the FCT. But el-Rufai told the Committee that the issue was an emotive one for him, being related to the late Justice.

He declared that the late Justice was exempted from buying his house just like many other officials of government but that his house was erroneously included in those listed for sale by the FCT. The former Minister made the following submissions on the late Justice:

“The issue of late Justice Sambo is an emotive one, which has elicited condemnation of the FCT and my person for what seems to be a “callous” act. In deference to the deceased, I present the facts supported with written letters and documents by the deceased, which speak for themselves.

•Late Justice Sambo was a Judicial Officer and thus defined by the Nigerian Constitution as a “political appointee”. Furthermore, his house as defined in the guidelines, as a residence of “Justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court and High Court of the FCT” were exempted from the sale along with residences of key officers of the Federal Government.

•The house was initially offered to him on the understanding that he was a political appointee and he was given forbearance to pay outside the deadlines for payment to enable him purchase the house.

•However, the offer was later withdrawn on the basis of the advice of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to the effect that the Chairman and Members of the CCT be treated akin to Judges properly so called. In the circumstances, he was refunded what he paid in full and given the option to buy another property.

•Late Justice Sambo sought to change his status from a Judicial Officer to NOT a Judicial Officer and made a case to Mr. President to ignore the interpretation of the Attorney General.

•We discovered that he had already sold the property in contravention of the Guidelines BEFORE final payment, which was in itself sufficient ground for revocation of the Offer.

•He was granted several notices and deadlines to vacate the residence and given an opportunity to bid for any other house, or right to match like all other political office holders but he declined.

•On the day of the eviction, he requested for 2 hours to pack his personal effects HIMSELF but used that time to invite the NTA and other media to witness his “eviction”

•The court order being referred to was never served on the FCT authorities, never seen by any Defendant until now and was therefore incapable of being complied with.

•After eviction, Late Justice Sambo applied to the court to commit FCT for contempt. At the trial, upon a preliminary objection, the Court struck out the contempt case as it found that the order was NEVER properly served on ANYONE.

•At the trial for the substantive case against the Federal Government, owner of the house sold, Late Justice Sambo withdrew the suit from the FCT High Court and re-filed at the Federal High Court.

The defences did not end there but there would be more room for el-Rufai and the Senate Committee to meet again on Wednesday, May 7, the rescheduled date for the former Minister’s appearance.