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Demolition: Wike threatens to sack FCDA boss over poor hàndling of compensation
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike, has threatened to sack the acting Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Mr Richard Dauda.
Wike gave the threat in Abuja on Monday, during a meeting with community leaders of Gishiri village, Katampe District, Abuja, whose part of houses were demolished to make way for a road project.
He explained that the threat was over Dauda’s poor handling of the relocation and payment of compensation to the affected persons.
Trouble for Dauda began when the Youth Leader of the community, Adamu Umar, told the minister that the FCDA officials allocated a swampy area to them, different from the one he approved.
Another resident, Miss Juliet Jonah, also complained that some of the affected houses were valued as low as N72,000, asking, “can N72,000 build a house in this current economy?”
The minister who could not hide his disappointment, asked Dauda why he allocated a different location from the one he approved?
Although Dauda refuted the claim, stressing that the area was not swampy, the visible furious minister warned him against giving government a bad name.
“Let me warn you now. I will sack you. You want to go and take the land? You can’t try that.
“You cannot take me to a place to relocate the affected persons, I told them about it, and now you are saying it is not enough. Have you come to tell me?
“This rubbish must stop. Don’t give the government a bad name. Moreover, you are an indigene of Abuja,” he said.
Wike promised to revisit the location to see for himself and assured the affected persons that the matter would be resolved.
He also explained that the amount each person would receive as compensation would be based on how the house was valued.
He said that the FCT Administration had no intention of making anybody suffer, stressing that the government was working for the interest of the people.
“The essence of President Bola Tinubu’s administration is to renew the hope of Nigerians and not to make anyone suffer.
“The road is not for Wike but part of efforts to open Abuja and make it one of the best cities in the world,” he said.
He explained that the funds for the payment of the compensation had been increased from N655 million to N1.3 billion, considering the current economic realities.
He said that the initial amount was based on the official government rates for compensation depending on the value attached to any demolished property.
The minister also warned Dauda against selective compensation of the affected persons on grounds of indigenisation.
According to him, the government does not pay compensation based on where people come from; compensation is paid based on who has property at the affected site.
“I am hearing that you said you will not pay certain people because they are non-indigenes. The day I will hear it again you will tell how you became an indigene.
“What do you mean by non-indigene? What kind of mentality is this? I don’t know where this is coming from.
“I built a house; or I built a store, and a road is passing there, and you are telling me that I am not entitled to compensation because I am a non-indigene. How does this sound?”
Wike, who said “I won’t take that rubbish”, ordered Dauda, who was supervising the payment of the compensation and relocation of the affected persons to everybody that was affected.
“Go and pay people their money as approved. If you are doing anything on the contrary and I find out, you will regret it,” he said.
Verifying the payment record, the minister noted that the N72,000 had been increased to N145,000 following the increase of the compensation fund.
He added that another person that was supposed to get N7 million would now receive N14 million, while a school that was initially supposed to receive N49 million would now receive N99 million. (NAN)
Bode George, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has described Abdul-Azeez Adediran, the party’s candidate in the 2023 governorship election in Lagos, as a “congenital liar”.
George spoke on Tuesday in a chat with Jimi Disu on Nigerian Info FM.
Adediran, popularly known as Jandor, joined the PDP from the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the 2023 elections and picked the party’s governorship ticket.
On Monday, he announced his return to the APC four days after meeting President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
Speaking about the former PDP governorship candidate, George said Jandor taught PDP “a lesson,” noting that he had agreed to pick Gbadebo Rhodes-Viviour as his running mate but reneged.
“He is a congenital liar. We stumbled into him through an older, respectable leader who brought him. It was something unusual because Gbadebo (Rhodes-Vivour) was at the forefront (of the PDP governorship ticket), the party chieftain said.
“But when the respectable man brought Jandor, we had to make a decision because, in our culture, we respect the elderly.
“Gbadebo was on hand, but I asked him his age, and he said he was 39, and Jandor said he was 45. And I said, ‘We can work something out’.
“I concluded that Jandor had been vetted by the old man. Until we had agreed that he would choose Gbadebo as his running mate. Then Gbadebo stepped down after paying 21 million for the party’s governorship ticket.
“Then, one day, Fashola said on TV that Jandor was his former cameraman. That was when we started digging into him.
“All of the party’s elders have concluded that we will not listen to any input from anybody from now on. Let whoever wants to contest go to the field.
“It is a lesson that he (Jandor) taught us. When he got the ticket, he did not want to take Gbadebo as his running mate. He lives in a conundrum of lies.
“Our party doesn’t do that, and we, the elders, apologised profusely, vowing that what happened with Jandor would never repeat itself.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas has described food insecurity as a huge national challenge which must be addressed by al tiers of government.
This is just as the Speaker urged the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly to deploy legislative instruments to tackle hunger and malnutrition across the country.
The Speaker stated this on Tuesday while addressing the House Committee on Food Security and Malnutrition as well as the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security in his office in Abuja.
A statement issued by the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the Speaker, Musa Krishi quoted Mr Abbas as saying, “Nigeria’s problem is largely, in a way, food insecurity and whatever we can do as parliamentarians to ease the burden on the people when it comes to hunger and malnutrition, we will be doing a very great service to this country. I urge you to please maintain the tempo. Ensure that you continue to increase the level of your activities until we get to that Promised Land.”
Abbas said it is gratifying to hear that an initiative of the House, “Which came on board for the first time in the history of the parliament,” is really making such kind of impact.
He added that “The committee is no longer a baby of the House of Representatives; it has become the baby of Nigeria as a whole, embraced by all the 36 Speakers (of the State Houses of Assembly) who are also making efforts to see that they can take this to all the local government areas.
“I think this is one of the few things that we created in the 10th House that will forever linger in my mind for being very useful to the country. I can attribute that success and the benefits to the chairman of the committee whose passion and commitment are driving this process.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Chinedu Okafor stated that the conversations around food security “Cannot start and end in Abuja,” stressing that his committee has taken the campaign against food insecurity and malnutrition to the sub-national levels.
Okafor recalled his meeting with the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly and Chairman of the Conference of Speakers of State Legislatures of Nigeria, Adebo Ogundoyin, which led to organisation of a retreat in Owerri, Imo State, where it was resolved that committees on food security and nutrition be set up at the state parliaments and federal laws be domesticated at the state level.
Okafor also recalled that chairmen and clerks of the newly created committees had a conference in Abuja, which birthed the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security.
He further hinted that the network is billed to meet with the Vice-President, Senator Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday on the subject matter of food insecurity.
Another explosion occurred at a pipeline manifold in the Omwawriwa area of Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State on Tuesday.
This incident follows a similar explosion that shook the Trans Niger Pipeline, operated by Shell, in Bodo, Gokana Local Government Area just hours earlier.
The latest explosion reportedly took place at a manifold connected to a federal pipeline deep within the forest, which transports crude oil to Brass in Bayelsa State.
While the explosion has not yet been officially confirmed, community sources reported seeing massive flames and thick smoke rising from the oil installation in the forest.
Grace Iringe-Koko, the spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, stated that she would investigate the incident but had not provided a response at the time of this report.
A video obtained by our correspondent displays a large fire burning in a remote location.
In a separate development, Ijaw youths blocked the Ahoada section of the East-West Road leading to Bayelsa State on Tuesday in protest.
The demonstrators, numbering over 100, carried placards in solidarity with Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara amid his political dispute with the state House of Assembly. Some of the placards read: “We demand Wike’s dismissal as FCT Minister” and “Martin Amaewhule and 26 lawmakers have defected and lost their seats.