FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike has revoked the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) of plots of land allocated to German construction giant, Julius Berger for the construction of houses for judges.
Speaking, at the official flag-off ceremony at the nation’s capital, Wike narrated how he revoked the land.
He said, “My Lord, let me bring to your notice. You have seen this land here. When we were looking for where to get land to build. I was driving around looking for empty land and I got here and saw this empty land.
“I saw the big post ‘Julius Berger’. I didn’t talk. I called the director of lands, ‘who owns that land?’ And he said Julius Berger. When was it allocated? He said about 15, 20 years ago. 15, 20 years ago? Nothing has been done? I didn’t bother.
“So, I invited the MD Julius Berger. He came and we had dinner. I didn’t talk about the land. The next day, he was in the office and he saw the revocation letter as a matter of public interest.
“He called me and said ‘but I had dinner with you’. I said ‘yes; we had dinner but we didn’t discuss the land’.
“How will the government allocate land for more than 20 years for organisation to develop and they did not develop it? Thank God they did not develop it and now we can have it.”
The event was attended by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, and the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, among other dignitaries.
