Fate of allotees Apparently to prove that it is capable of doing what a foreign firm can do, the company has gone far in the provision of relevant infrastructure under the terms of the contract. This is clearly evident in the FCDA budget which has earmarked N2.5 billion for the settlement of outstanding liabilities to Kakatar and the continuation of work on the Maitama Extension project in its 2016 project approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. Interestingly, all the workers of Kakatar are Nigerians and they have taken steps to deliver quality job. At completion, the Maitama Extension District is expected to be an improved version of the present day Maitama District, Abuja. But like a thunder from the blues, the Nigerian Army dealt a deadly blow to the smooth working operations of the company and does not appear to be in a hurry to lift its siege on the land.
A few days after seizing the premises, the Nigerian Army came out to justify its action, saying the land was its own and that it took it back to prevent further encroachment. The Acting Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said: “The said property is on Nigerian Army land and the army will not allow anybody to encroach on its land. Consequently, the property has to be sealed to prevent further encroachment,” Usman said. But the takeover of the company’s premises and the denial of access to its workers has thrown up many questions than answers because of the over 400 plots of land allocated to top Nigerians in the same premises. Although top management staff of the company went to the Army Headquarters last Monday to find out why the army descended on its site office, they were not given any concrete answer.
The authorities did not also say what has become the fate of the top Nigerians who own the plots and whether they had also seized the plots as part of its property along with the Kakatar site which is believed to run into billions of Naira. There has been no other communication with the company ever since. However, the implication appears to be that with the army takeover of the Maitama Extension land and its unwillingness to allow the construction company’s workers access to Kakatar site, the owners of the over 400 plots have also forfeited them to the army, leaving the FCDA, which issued them the plots with certificates of occupancy, in a dilemma. While the FCDA may not be able to physically slug it out with the army, it is likely to be battered by those allocated the seized plots. In fact, given the status of the plot owners, it is to be expected that legal and physical forces could be applied on the FCDA by the allotees. It was learnt that the plot owners were boiling for legal action against the Nigerian Army and the FCDA over the forceful takeover of the property duly paid for. The beleagued plot owners expect the minister or his representatives to speak on the status of their plots but he has not been forthcoming allegedly because he is as puzzled as Kakatar by the action of the military.
The seizure of the land by the army also raises the fear that the construction of the official quarters of the Senate President, his deputy, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and other principal officers of the National Assembly, at various stages of completion, may be stalled.
In fact, most of the official quarters of the senior government officials are at the level of being completed while the provision of infrastructure by the company has also reached advanced stage. But many privately-owned property are already completed and ready for occupation. The major bridge linking all the facilities and segments in the district has been completed along with many roads, water, sewage ducts and electricity lines. Kakatar has expressed surprise at the action of the Nigerian Army, saying it had not breached any known law to warrant the action by the soldiers. Spokesman for the company, Mr. Austin Ekeinde, said in a statement that the action of the Nigerian Army had caused the firm daily losses estimated at hundreds of millions of Naira and caused untold hardship for thousands of families whose workers in Kakatar are now being forced to stay home.
“It is instructive to note at no time did the company suggest or claim that the land upon which it was using as a site to coordinate the project belongs to Kakatar. Never!”, Ekeinde said. “All that we have been doing is to speedily complete the contract in accordance with the terms given by the FCDA and pull out our multi-million equipment so that the plot owners can move into their property and live happily. “And as a proof of our sincerity of purpose, and good neighborliness, no notice of any security breach or infraction has ever been sent to us by the Nigerian Army. “Nigerians should also note that no enquiry as to our presence or intention to recover any land was ever sent to us before the costly invasion locking in our equipment and driving away thousands of Nigerians working with us.” Apparently angered by the development, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, slammed the Nigerian Army, describing the forceful takeover of the company’s premises as dictatorial and unwarranted in a decent democratic setting.
