Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Nyesom Wike, has been commended for tackling the issues of land grabbing and encroachment by land speculators and grabbers in Lugbe, a suburb of the nation’s capital.
The commendation came from a landowner, who spoke on behalf of other stakeholders at Lugbe One and CRD Layouts, Engr. Segun Olaniyin,
He said it takes a man with the heart of a lion like Wike to save many individuals from the activities of the speculators and land grabbers, especially a notorious one in the area whose name was not mentioned.
Olaniyin said the undisclosed land grabber seized several people’s land and even demolished houses, especially in the CRD Layout, with the help of some law enforcement agents whom he paraded as his enforcers.
In a statement he issued yesterday in Abuja, Olaniyin said the same land grabber refused to respect the authorities of the FCT, which had previously warned him that he had encroached on four layouts, which he used to expand his estate beyond the approved space.
He said the only estate the suspect owned in the area was unmeasured, as he regularly expanded it.
Olaniyin claimed that the suspected land grabber initially defied Wike’s directive to stop his estate’s development and illegal expansion.
“The people in the CRD, Lugbe One & Two Layouts and environs are now celebrating this giant stride of Wike for saving their lives and also stopping these land speculators and grabbers, especially the notorious one among them who always takes the law into his hands because he claimed to be untouchable.”
He urged the minister to bring to the book the said land grabber known in the area by prosecuting him in the law court to serve as an example to other land grabbers in Lugbe.
