National Issues
How we undermine ourselves in this land -By Abdullahi O. Haruna
The owner of the Abuja estate who grabbed people’s land is a typical example of how Nigerians are used to undermine Nigeria. This man was taken to court for encroachment, the court fined him and ordered him to pay compensation. He refused to compensate the people and went ahead to continue building on people’s land. He appealed the judgement and failed again but because he had the law unto his hand, he sits today as one of the owners of the largest estate in Abuja.
If you want to see impunity, go find real estate developers. They breathe undue authority and crass arrogance. In Abuja, they defy court orders, grab people’s land and build estates in them. We have one in Abuja along the airport road, somewhere in Lugbe before the Dunamis Church. This man forcefully took over people’s land and converted them into his empire of estate. My younger brother is a victim, he didn’t only grab his land but demolished the boy’s 5 bedroom bungalow built with hard-earned figures. The boy reported to the police and the police got him arrested. Few days later, the police became counsellors as they cajoled my brother to forfeit his property and leave everything to God! It was later we gathered the man dashed the Oga of police a full-duplex and the story changed!
The Ikoyi developer comes to mind, he defied the provisions of standards to build a complex that was reduced to rubbles – killing an unspecified number of people. In a viral video in circulation, he was seen stopping development control officials from gaining access to his site. Even when the police arrested him, he was released same day to continue with his tower of deaths. He had his way and ended the lives of innocent citizens. One thing with karma, it hardly comes when it ought to, the developer should have been under the rumbles but alas, he stays alive today while many lay buried under the debris.
As usual, we will say let the authority do it its work, but who is the authority? Of course, we the public make up the controlling authority. Amongst the officials who looked the other way round when the Ikoyi Developer violated the building rules are Nigerians. The man had his way because almost everyone compromised. The owner of the Abuja estate who grabbed people’s land is a typical example of how Nigerians are used to undermine Nigeria. This man was taken to court for encroachment, the court fined him and ordered him to pay compensation. He refused to compensate the people and went ahead to continue building on people’s land. He appealed the judgement and failed again but because he had the law unto his hand, he sits today as one of the owners of the largest estate in Abuja.
Like the Ikoyi developers, many developers are developing under illegality in Nigeria.
Sadly musing
