You might have heard that the vast expanse of land recently cleared in Mpape belongs to the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan. The land which lies around Grange Hill Hotel Mpape by the snaky and steep Mpape way carries the title Plot No. 3158 Cadastral Zone F04 Mpape District.
Patience Jonathan might have pieces of land in Abuja but definitely this one is not hers. A letter from Abuja Geographic Information System (AGIS) on November 14, 2013 confirms this: “Our records reveal that the association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) was allocated 60.9 hectares of land in 1985 with Certificate of Occupancy registered as FC 80 at pg. 80 in vol. 87 dated 6th November 1998. The said title was however revoked in year 2001 as a result of non development within stipulated period. Part of the revoked plot was excised and allocated to Presidential Police Escort. The reminder portion was returned to the association based on an appeal made by ANA.”
The story of Plot 3158
Plot 3158 is a story of encumbrances, trespass, intimidation, litigation and threats.
The land was given to ANA during its 1985 convention in Abuja by the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (MFT), Vatsa. Allocation ceremony was held on the land where a kind of commissioning took place. It was intended to be a writers’ village where writers can have a retreat. It was supposed to be one of its kind in Africa.
It was intended to have a conference centre, ANA national secretariat, 36 mini secretariats for the state chapters, a library
and theatre complex, offices, a shopping mall, a hotel and a solitude centre with 10 well landscaped chalets. It is the belief of the writers that if built, the place will be a tourists attraction in the city of Abuja.
Why it remained undeveloped
But 10 days after, Vatsa was arrested over complicity in a military coup. This was during the Babangida regime.
Before now, Vatsa had donated a building as secretariat for the association. A staff of the Ministry of FCT as it was called then was posted there. When Vatsa was arrested, government took away the building from the association.
When death sentence pronouncement was made against Vatsa and execution was to be ratified, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and John Clark went to Babangida in Dodan Barracks and pleaded that Vatsa and his co-coup plotters be spared because the coup was only intent. But Vatsa was killed. That was the beginning of writers’ problem with government.
The execution of Vatsa discouraged development of the place. Ten years after Vatsa’s execution (in 1995) a former president of ANA, Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed. It happened at the time writers were meeting for a national convention in Lagos.
It became obvious to the writers that the military men must leave the space before they would think of developing the land.
Efforts to build
When the military left government in 1999, it was decided that the place would be built so writers visited then President Olusegun Obasanjo soliciting support to build the place. Obasanjo’s response was rather comical.
On Nov. 21, 2002, the association’s executive isolated Home Securities Ltd out of eight bidders to develop the land on the basis of Build Operate and Transfer. The company did its checks around 2002/2003 and found that the land had been revoked by FCT administration for failure to build. FCT ‘s letter of revocation was sent to a disused address so officials of the association were unaware.
The association began recovery process. Former FCT Minister Nasir el-Rufai returned the land but not in its original size. Mopol 24 Prescort State House Barracks sits on part of the land. From 60.9 hectares, it became 36.95 hectares. FCT in a letter advised ANA to endeavour to build it to avoid further problems. The developer did not start work. Then government directed that all should recertify their titles.
All the title documents were handed over to the Home Securities Ltd to go for recertification. The developer was charged N22 million for the recertified CofO. But recertification did not come. The developer said there was not enough money to pay.
For the developer’s failure to pay, the association pleaded with another FCT minister, Umar Modibbo for help. Modibbo waived the N22 million. Still the developer did not do anything.
Controversy set in. The association issued the developer a letter in 2008 terminating the contract for lack of financial capacity to do the job. The firm took the association to court. The case ended in February 2012. The judge concluded that the land belonged to ANA but there were interactions and agreement so the company would have incurred costs. Based on these, the court awarded the company N10 million as damages. The firm was asked to bring all the title documents to court but it claimed they were lost.
Why the land is being cleared
ANA reopened the bid. But before that, it contracted a company called KMVL to verify the status of the land. The new company discovered that the land had passed through about four different hands. One of them called Gandu was in possession of power of attorney purporting being sold the land by the association. Big names: commissioner of police, retired army officers could brandish papers laying claims to parts of the land. Rumours came that the First Lady was part of them.
When court judgment was tendered, it occurred to them that they were duped. Homes Securities Ltd denied doing it. By this time, in the Development Control, the association’s file was being processed for permission to start work without the association knowing anything about it.
On January 24, 2013, ANA went to the land for foundation laying ceremony which was second on the land. The first was done by Vatsa in 1985. KMVL Ventures was officially introduced as prospective developer. KMVL gave its development plan.
Before this ceremony, thugs invaded the place and asked ANA to stop work. Police had to step in. The ceremony was done under tight security.
The big hurdle
Home Securities Ltd had claimed to have lost the original documents so ANA went back to AGIS to get the certified CofO. Public notice for loss of document was advertised in the newspapers. Home Securities was alerted so it quickly ran to AGIS and blocked the application saying it has the documents. Because of this, AGIS refused giving ANA the document.
The Director of Lands, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Alhaji Mainasara Babayo maintained that government would not rely on the court judgment to give ANA its papers. He said the two parties (ANA and the Home Securities Ltd) must settle their differences first.
ANA vice president Mr Denja Abdullahi who has been championing the struggle to reclaim the land told this reporter that ANA, this time can build.
Abdullahi said, “We’re processing our approval to start our development. We’re clearing the land, doing outlays. We’ve submitted those documents, we’ve paid the legal fees for the processing of such. The Development Control will soon, after clearing all the administrative issues give us the final approval to start our development.
“Gandu took us to court saying we’re trying to take his land. The case was dismissed on Sept. 21, 2013 because he severally failed to appear. We’re going to the same court to compel Home Securities to give us our documents or to compel AGIS to give us our CofO certified true copy. We’re looking forward to government and philanthropists who appreciate what writers have done to boost our image to help us develop this place.”
When Daily Trust visited the site last Thursday, KMVL Ventures’ officials were not present except a security man. Earthmoving equipment were at standstill.
The late Chinua Achebe started ANA in 1981 in Nsuka. Though it has grown over the years with many members including big names like the Nobel Prize winner Professor Wole Soyinka, ANA can hardly build its place.
