No amount of media intimidation or blackmail would prevent the department from carrying out its legal mandate of ensuring orderly development and
By Moses Okorie
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has dismissed allegations by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) that its officials were involved in an attempt to grab the company’s land in Maitama, describing the claims as malicious, misleading and intended to blackmail the administration.
In a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja, the Acting Director of the Department of Development Control, Bashir Sunusi, insisted that the department acted strictly within its statutory responsibilities and would not be intimidated from carrying out its duties.
Sunusi was reacting to AEDC’s July 10 allegation that officials of the FCTA, allegedly led by an Assistant Director in the department, Chinedu Okoro, unlawfully invaded and encroached on the company’s C2 Maitama Substation.
He described the allegation as defamatory, baseless and a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the facts.
According to him, the department’s officials visited the site on July 8 following a formal complaint from a lawful allottee who possessed a valid Certificate of Occupancy issued and signed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The landowner, he said, complained that access to the property had been blocked by illegal obstructions allegedly erected by AEDC officials.
Sunusi explained that a team comprising Development Control officers from Maitama District and surveyors was deployed to the location to verify the complaint and identify the property’s boundaries.
He said the officials found no permanent structure or fence on the disputed land except a barbed-wire barricade, prompting the survey team to determine the exact boundary beacons using standard surveying equipment.
According to him, while the exercise was ongoing, AEDC’s Chief Operating Officer, Blessing Ogwe, accompanied by Assistant Director Christine Emma-Kalu and police officers, arrived at the scene.
He said both parties interacted peacefully before the AEDC officials invited the FCTA team to a meeting at the company’s office later that day.
“Our officials honoured the invitation and waited until 5:00 p.m., but the company’s management failed to show up,” Sunusi stated.
Responding to claims that the exercise disrupted electricity supply, the acting director maintained that no electricity infrastructure was tampered with during the operation.
He stressed that officials neither touched nor damaged any cables, power installations or network facilities, adding that electricity supply remained uninterrupted when the team left the area.
Sunusi accused AEDC of launching a calculated media campaign to discredit the Department of Development Control and undermine its efforts to enforce planning regulations.
He maintained that no amount of media intimidation or blackmail would prevent the department from carrying out its legal mandate of ensuring orderly development and protecting residents’ access to their legally allocated land.
The acting director advised AEDC to channel any genuine grievances over land ownership through the Office of the FCT Minister by presenting relevant title documents rather than engaging in what he described as “cyber-bullying.”
He also demanded that the electricity distribution company withdraw its publication and issue an unreserved public apology to the department and the affected officials in national newspapers.
Sunusi warned that failure to do so would compel the department and the affected officers to seek legal redress over what they described as defamatory allegations.