By Desire Emmanuel
A developer who reportedly took over and built on 10 plots of land earmarked for some embassies at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has been ordered arrested while the buildings on the plots of land have been demolished.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, ordered the arrest of the developer, whose name was given as Alhaji Kabiru Sahara, as well as the demolition of the buildings.
A competent source close to the minister told Impact Nigeria News Online on Friday, March 13, that the man got repeated warnings regarding the plots of land, but he was said to have insisted on going ahead with building on the land, saying “nothing will happen.”
According to the source, in 2008, the plots of land were allocated to 10 embassies for diplomatic residential purposes.
The affected plots which are located within the Diplomatic Zone, Katampe Extension, were allocated to the embassies including those of Thailand, Bulgaria, Syria, Somalia, Serbia and Montenegro, Japan, Austria, Switzerland, Senegal and the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
“This land was allocated to various embassies in 2008. Somebody just came here, took the land and started developing it on their own without approval from the FCDA. We cannot allow this kind of land invasion to continue,” the source said.
However, apparently due to the fact that the embassies did not develop the plots of land since then, the developer decided to take over the land and erected buildings allegedly without the approval from the relevant authorities.
Despite repeated warnings, the developer kept erecting residential buildings, and on Friday when the minister visited the place, all the buildings were demolished.
The minister was also quoted as saying that the developer had been arrested and would soon be prosecuted.
“The man has been arrested and he will be charged in court. The police are carrying out their investigation and he will be charged any moment from now,” he said.
