Sir, so you got a free land in Abuja

OBJ does not stop to surprise me, he must think Nigerians are dumb. After so much anti-corruption campaign I have come to realise that this guy is the most corrupt Nigerian. If President Yar'Adua does not probe OBJ then he should forget about the "Rule of Law"

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Yar'Adua's land revocation in Abuja
Not long ago, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) ratified the revocation of 38 plots of land in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja belonging to the president, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, some former governors and other prominent Nigerians.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had at the twilight of his administration taken some irrational decisions, including the allocation of lands to his friends and loyalists without any regard for due process.

According to the FCT minister of state, John Akpanudoehe, "the lands were not applied for, but were given to former governors and other prominent Nigerians by the last administration".

Given the brazen impunity that engendered this action, we cannot but ask: What special consideration qualified the benefiting governors and "other prominent Nigerians" for this allocation? Again, what socio-economic or political purpose was the allocation meant to serve?

To us, this kind of action only goes to emphasise further, the kind of leadership that this country has had, especially in the past nine years of civilian administration, an insensitive and irresponsible leadership.

Apart from the reason that the plots of land were within the vicinity of Pendam Dam reserved as 'green areas' behind the Aso Rock Villa, government also said the allocation did not follow due process.

For a government that mouthed due process and even had a ministry for it in the presidency, this singular action was a serious indictment and for us, it is the height of hypocrisy and impunity.

While we commend President Yar'Adua for his rare courage in revoking the plots of land in which he is a beneficiary, and also for his high regard for due process and rule of law, we also ask the president to revisit the land reforms which the Obasanjo administration initiated but lacked both the moral grounds and political will to carry out.

Furthermore, in view of the mindless manner the plots of land were given to people who "never solicited nor applied for same", we call for urgent review, if not outright abrogation, of the Land Use Act which gives ownership of, and power over land to the government, thus allowing the president and the state governors the power to allocate land and revoke same at will.

We feel concerned that in a country with a housing deficit of between 12-14 million units; where genuine real estate developers blame the housing deficit on inaccessibility of land, the same land is given out freely to people who don't need it.

We therefore, consider it a trite law or interpretation of same which allows a president or governor to so mindlessly give away public property without any consideration for their feelings, hence the need to do away with such a law.

Beyond due process and the land use act, we also advise that Nigeria should find a way of running small sized government. This, we believe, will check too much expectation of pecuniary gains and compensation by loyalists and aides at the end of their service to the nation.

We agree with the president of Campaign for Democracy, Joe Okei-Odumakin who sees the revocation as restitution because since the beneficiaries neither applied nor asked for the land, they should not have accepted it in the first place.

It is our belief that inordinate ambition and uncontrolled acquisitive instinct have always pushed our leaders to over-reach themselves at the expense of the large segment of the society.

We recommend that the president should henceforth maintain a trim cabinet so that he wouldn't have the temptation of using public property to settle or compensate a large crowed of aides at the end of the day.

More importantly, we maintain that public property, as precious as land, should not be given to people who will not use it for the good of the generality of the citizens and that due process should be the guiding principle where it becomes expedient to so do.
Source: http://businessdayonline.com