Re: How Nigerian Police Force took N5million bribe to cover up murder in Abuja Community

Following the above report published by Sahara Reporters on the 9th day of September, 2025, a non-governmental Organization operating under the sobriquet- Network Against Victimization and Unjust Penalization (NAVUP), whose name, underscores its core objectives, undertook to unravel the veracity or otherwise of the story. In a bid to discharge that self-imposed task, the NGO interfaced with some of the principal parties named therein and others knowledgeable about the events reported. The outcome of this process revealed that the story by Sahara reporters is substantially laced with falsehood and in many respect, defamatory.

To start with, Sahara reporters claimed that Grow Homes Estate started land grabbing mission in view of the construction of the Chikakore road by the Nyesom Wike led Administration of the FCT which has shored up the property value within that environ. While it is not disputed that the Nyesom Nwike led FCT Administration has done a lot in terms of infrastructural renaissance in many parts of the FCT, a visit to this particular area by Network Against Victimization and Unjust Penalization (NAVUP), showed that the claim of road construction within the Chikakore and its environs, is a barefaced lie. The road which measures approximately 8 Kilometers at its terminal point in Kuchibuyi Village, is till date, in a very terrible shape.

There is in fact no indication whatsoever or pointer to the fact that the Government is about to undertake its construction any time soon. Residents of the area who interacted with NAVUP stated categorically that sometimes last year, what was at that time, the only connecting bridge in the community, collapsed and it took community efforts including substantial supports from Grow Homes Estate and Champion Royal Assembly for the said bridge to be reconstructed.

NAVUP’s findings further revealed that the Chikakore community under the auspices of Eminent Chikakore Community Road Construction and Mobilization groups to which Grow Homes Estate and Champions Royal Assembly belong, are actually working to see how it could mobilize funds to give the road, a facelift. NAVUP took several pictures to authenticate it findings on the current state of the road and to refute the thoughtless lies by Sahara Reporters.

The falsehood by Sahara Reporters on an issue as seemingly innocuous as road construction heightened the curiosity of Network Against Victimization and Unjust Penalization (NAVUP) which then decided to be more detailed and thorough in its approach and its findings, were rather bewildering. For instance, it was discovered that those residents of Kuchibuyi whom the reports create the impression of being oppressed by the Police, were in fact involved in unprecedented hooliganism, wanton violence and thoughtless thuggery. Although efforts to reach out to Mr. Roland Aigbedion, the Managing Director of Grow Homes Estate proved abortive, two eye witnesses who prefer to remain anonymous for fear of being attacked, gave graphical accounts of the entire circumstances that culminated in the unfortunate events. The accounts of these witnesses though interviewed separately and without knowledge of each other, correlated in every material part.

From their accounts, it is established that these persons physically assaulted Mr. Roland Aigbedion and others with him when he undertook a physical inspection of a land that had been prospected to him by an intending seller. The eye witness accounts show that the assailants took their phones away in the course of assaulting Mr. Roland Aigbedion and others with him thereby rendering them incommunicado. They were, hit with tree trunks, brutally tortured and thereafter whisked away in a manner that suggested kidnap. Compelled by these circumstances, one of the eye witnesses, who incidentally belong to the same Kuchibuyi community, tactically left the scene of the torture and placed a call across to the police to ensure a timely intervention. In the words of this eye witness ‘just a few months before this incidence, there was a security issue at Grow Homes Estate and the modus operandi of those who tortured Mr. Roland was consistent with the account of the perpetrators of that incidence which made me very suspicious.’

Mr. Roland Aigbedion was whisked away to a place that turned out to be the palace of the Chief of Kuchibuyi where so many other errant youths were waiting.

To their credit, the police responded rather promptly but upon getting there, the assailants who had mobilized more people prevented the police from gaining entrance to where Mr. Roland Aigbedion had been taken to. It was rather shocking to note that these assailants were so impudent and audacious in their attack to the point where they forcibly made the DPO of Byazin Police Station to sit on the floor and thoroughly molested him. They even videoed how the DPO was being beaten with a stick by them.

It was upon the arrival of re-enforcement by the police and military joint force that they were able to rescue the DPO and arrested some of those who carried out the series of the assaults. At the police station, these suspects willingly admitted their involvement in the series of incidence.

Further findings revealed that the mob even threatened to attack the entire residence of Grow Homes Estate which has thus far been subjected to three of previous  heart rendering attacks. At no point did the police carry the corpse of any person.

It was discovered that the assailants completely vandalized and destroyed the vehicles of Mr. Roland and those with him, even the new Hilux patrol van given to the Byhazin Police Station, was not sparred by them. It was destroyed by the villagers.

Interestingly, the Chairman of Bwari Area Council whom Sahara Reporters has attacked, was even the one who facilitated the release on bail of these villagers who carried out the assault including that on the DPO.

With respect to the claim that land was allotted to the Nigerian Army by the present Chairman of Bwari Area Council, findings reveal that this is another misinformation. The lies replete in this sensationalism, consists in two ways, the first being the wrongful ascription to Gabaya, the Chairman of Bwari Area council as the issuing authority and the second, being the time of the issuance of the allocation. Available evidence shows that the Nigerian Army was allotted about 40 hectares of land for military barracks in the area in dispute by the FCT Administration under the stewardship of Senator Bala Mohammed whose tenure as FCT Minister ended in 2015. In fact, further findings reveal that Mr. Gabaya was not even the Chairman of the Area Council as at that time.

NAVUP in a bid to dig deeper on its findings, interacted with many legal practitioners who asserted that in the FCT, all lands are vested in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that the president exercises his power of allocation of land in the FCT through the Minister of the FCT. The lawyers that NAVUP spoke with, maintained that no land is vested in any community or individual in the FCT. It is also worthy of note to state that a resident of the Kuchibuyi village affirmed that contrary to the extant laws of the FCT, the natives still sell lands for them to build houses and the community youths are fond of forcing the chief against his wishes to sign some illegal land agreements for such transactions.

Some land agents within the community spoken to, insisted that the villagers are aware of this position of the law which explains why none of them built on any government layout. Rather, they sold those lands to unsuspecting members of the public who have built on them and their properties now liable to demolition. NAVUP discovered that the villagers have deliberately extorted and swindled their buyers.

With respect to the title of Grow Homes Estate, NAVUP took the pains of interacting with a group of realtors and land agents through whom many residents of Grow Homes Estates have bought land for building of houses of different types there. Through them, NAVUP was able to see and interrogate the title documents of the estate. The title documents show that some of these allocations date as far back as 2003 when Gabaya was not even in office. He was elected into office about 7 years ago.  Further findings revealed that these allocations are in the FCDA system from where searches can be conducted.

It was discovered that Grow Homes Estate after procuring Government allocated plots/titled land, was forced by the natives to buy the said land again from them despite the norms which ordinary implies compensating the farmers for their economic trees, a step which lawyers described as very rare.  The agents spoken to, said that the communities only allowed Grow Homes Estate to access that place after the purchase from each villager.