FCT seals Adamawa governor’s lodge •For contravening land use rules

Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Saturday sealed off the Adamawa Governor’s Lodge located in Maitama district, Abuja over what they called the building’s contravention of the land use rules.
The FCTA said the action was taken because the building was illegally converted to office use, rather than for residential/lodging purposes.

It said the Development Control Department of the FCTA, concerned by increasing cases of land use contraventions in the territory, took action by identifying buildings that were involved in the illegal acts.

“As is the usual practice, such buildings were immediately put on notice and those that could not comply were duly sealed off,” said Nosike Ogbuenyi, the special assistant to the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed.

According to him, the exercise was not targeted at any person or group of persons.

He said: “Following increasing cases of land use contraventions in the FCT, the Development Control Department of the FCT administration took an action by identifying buildings that were involved in the illegal acts.

“The exercise is an ongoing one as the administration remains committed to the development of Abuja in compliance with the rule of law, including the provision of Abuja Master Plan.

“The exercise is not targeted at any person or group of persons. Rather, it is in the collective interest of Nigeria to keep to the letters and spirits of the vision of the founding fathers of Abuja as a planned and orderly federal capital. For this reason, nobody is above the law.

“Following repeated inquiries from journalists concerning a particular building affected by the exercise (the Adamawa Guest House, Maitama), I wish to clarify that it is one of the buildings affected because it was illegally converted to office use, rather than residential/lodging.

“The FCT administration wishes to assure all residents of FCT that it will continue to do its best to encourage development of the city in all sectors in accordance with the law.

“All developers are advised to ensure that they obtain all necessary approvals from the Development Control Department and other relevant departments before erecting physical structures or altering existing ones for other purposes.”

Following the break out of crisis in the PDP, members of the G7 group of aggrieved PDP members had announced the formation of the New PDP, which rented an office secretariat in Abuja.

The office was, however, sealed off by the police, leading to the decision by the Adamawa State governor to throw open the lodge to NPDP activities.