A 71 year old lawyer, Mr. Isaac Kilanko has narrated how his property was fraudulently taken over and re- allocated to WEMA Bank without his prior consent by some officials of the Federal House Authority ( FHA), under the Ministry of Works and Housing, Abuja.
After several efforts to get his building back, he said the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) investigated the alleged fraudulent practices leveled against the FHA after a report was lodged, and confirmed that the said building was actually reallocated fraudulently, and mandated the FHA to hand over the property to the rightful owner .
However, the 71 year old lawyer, in a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, his Chief of Staff, Prof. Sulu Gambari, the chairman of the Presidential Committee on Corruption, Prof Itse Sagie, the Executive Chairman of ICPC, the Nigerian Bar Association, Human Rights Organisations and all well-meaning Nigerians, stated that despite the order by the ICPC, and several letters , the FHA has remained adamant , refusing to hand over his property to him. But, the Minister of Works and Housing ,Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on Thursday said the Ministry had intervened in the case of the 71 year old lawyer, Isaac Kilanko , whose property was allegedly taken over by the Federal Housing Authority ( FHA).
The Special Adviser to the Minister on Media, Hakeem Bello who spoke with our reporter in a phone interview said he had linked the aged lawyer with the director of FHA for assistance.Bello said “ Well , at a point, I asked him to nominate somebody here in Abuja to help him follow up with FHA.
That person got in touch with me and I linked him up with FHA director as at that time. I don’t think it is right to say nothing is being done about it as alleged, but what he could have said is give status update on the issue. ” He could have given you where his contact person pushed it to.
If it is not concluded , he could have said it is not yet concluded. But to say nothing is being done is not totally correct. The person he sent to the Ministry whom I linked with the director must have done something about it.
Now, what did he tell him? Is it that when a letter was written from the Ministry, he was not attended to? Does it mean that the person didn’t respond? Or what is it ? Has he followed up or sent someone else to follow it up ? “
Armed with copies of documents to buttress his ownership of the property, the 71 year lawyer in the petition, drew the attention of the whole world to the abysmal height of wickedness, injustice, inhumanness and untold pains inflicted on him by officials of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), a parastatal under the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.He said“ For the avoidance of doubt and in brevity, I wish to state the facts as follows: I paid and was allocated house number 166 1st Avenue, in Lugbe Estate, Abuja. I exercised my right of ownership and gave the house out to a tenant, who occupied the house for more than eleven years and no sooner the tenant moved out of the property than the FHA re-entered into it and fraudulently reallocated to another occupier, (allegedly WEMA BANK).
”Since then I wrote many letters to the management of the FHA without acknowledgement of any of the letters.The matter was then referred to the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). The ICPC investigated the case and confirmed my ownership of the house in question. ” I was therefore invited to the ICPC office in Abuja on August 3, 2016 to meet with the FHA officials, who were supposed to hand over my property to me. Unfortunately, no official of FHA was present and with the mandate that the house be handed over to CITY LAW FIRM, my solicitor, I left Abuja.”Nation
