By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
The Director of Development Control Department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Tpl Muktar Galadima has been enjoined to focus on his work and not get distracted by falsehoods and petitions by “some blackmailers who don’t mean well for Abuja”
The call was contained in a press statement issued on Thursday by a civil society organisation , Pro-Impact Initiative and signed by its Coordinator, Dr Osamudiamen Isokpehi.
The group described as :“Total Fabrication of lies and malicious write up” a petition written against the Director and submitted to House of Representatives public petition’s committee.
Dr Isokpehi pointed out that the , “petitioners, blinded by their desire to destroy a proactive public servant, gathered all the falsehoods their brains can conjure, mix them with half truth to make them look genuine and put them on paper with the sole intention of derailing the Director from doing his noble job”
“ Firstly , they accused Tpl Galadima of registering many companies to launder money and do business. But the only mentioned two companies claiming he registered them and still remain their director.
Tpl Galadima was shocked to be linked to MERITAGE HOMESLIMITED , a firm he was hearing for the first time. We can tell the public that The Director was instructed by counsel to write to the company and demand explanation as to how and why he became a director of the company. The replied of the company gave completely exonerate him from being part of the company as at no time did he agreed or sat in a board meeting to be a director in that company”.
“ The second firm , TERRESTERIAL DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT LIMITED, we gathered reliably is a company he registered more than 20yrs ago to enable him participate in farming in his village but since 2002 when the company was registered he has not used the company.“
On allegations that the director enriched himself by allocating and acquiring plots of lands in the FCT, the group pointed out that ” the power of allocating a land in the FCT is vested on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as contained in the Land Use Act and the President out of his wisdom, delegated that sole responsibility to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory who allocate land.
The Director have no power whatsoever to allocate land to anyone since he has not served as Minister of FCT. If any FCT ministers in the past considered him worthy and allocated a plot of land to him as has been done to hundreds of thousands of Nigerians , he cannot be accused of enriching himself”
“ “ Permit us to state plainly that Tpl Galadima like every hardworking Nigerian has right to legally own land and property, either through direct purchase or allocation by a minister. There is completely nothing wrong in this. How did we reached this point when people will be petitioned on allegations that they own a land or house which is not a proceed of fraud or illegality?
The group, however, called on the The National Assembly, precisely the House of Representatives’ committee on public petition to disregard petition against the Director of Development control department which is “only crafted by its writers to derail the Director from doing his job” for lack of substance and intention to blackmail.
Dr Isokpehi pointed out that, “ with the kind of job the director does, the petition did not come to us a surprise. Ridding Abuja of Illegal structures and correcting land use contraventions is a very tough and risky job. He stepped on toes of those who violates the Abuja master plan and refused to bend the rules for those who want compromise the system.
Finding no fault in the discharge of his work, they now decided to go into other path in search of anything they can lay their hands on the destroy passionate public servant of repute”
