Another New PDP building Marked for demolition Home » Featured » PDP crisis: Another building marked for demolition in Abuja The New PDP’s office marked for demolition in Maitama, Abuja...yesterday. PDP crisis: Another building marked for demolition in Abuja Posted by: Onyedi Ojiabor, Assistant Editor and Sanni Onogu, Abuja in Featured, News 5 hours ago The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has marked for demolition a multi-million naira complex belonging to a member of the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP). The owner of the complex, Senator Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan, raised the alarm over the alleged plan to demolish the complex at a news conference in Abuja yesterday. Al-Hassan, the senator representing Taraba North Senatorial District, said she had been given 48 hours on Thursday to remove her A-Class Park located in the highbrow Maitama area of Abuja. Addressing journalists yesterday, Al-Hassan traced the decision by the FCTA to demolish the complex to her membership of the nPDP. She said: “On the 26th of September 2013, in fulfillment of the PDP threat to deal with members of the Baraje-led division of the PDP, a two-week notice to demolish the A-class park and event centre was served on A-Class Events Management Services Limited, and yesterday (Thursday), another notice, a 48-hour notice dated 24th October 2013, was also issued. “I am a free born citizen of Nigeria whose rights to freedom of choice and association are guaranteed under Chapter 4 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 as amended. “If because of the grievances that I have against my party, the PDP, especially its leadership at state level, I decided to belong to an aggrieved divide of the party led by Alhaji Kawu Baraje, I see no reason why I or any member of the divide should be witch-hunted or persecuted and many other Nigerians (park owners and workers) punished.” Al-Hassan said that in response to a letter by the FCTA directing A-Class to vacate its location, the management of A-Class park wrote to the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, urging him to allow the park to continue operation until such a time that actual and physical development of the Maitama Transit Way would commence. The park, she said, also reminded Mohammed of relevant sections of the allocation letter which said that the allocation was pending the identification of an alternative site. She said that the space for the park was given to her when authorities of the FCTA discovered that the place earlier allocated to her was encumbered. She said: “By another letter reference AMMC/P&R/S.500 dated 17th March 2010 from Park and Recreation Department of the FCTA, approval was given to A-Class Events Management Services Limited to develop and manage a park on a site measuring approximately 3.0 hectares on the transit way corridor Maitama District.” She noted that one of the conditions in the letter of allocation of plot 102 A00 was that the offer was for a five-year period in the first instance, renewable after satisfactory performance. The lawmaker said it might interest Nigerians to know that while she was being hounded and issued threats to demolish A-Class Park, two other parks were given approval to operate parks in the same area. She noted that contrary to the promise of an alternative site for A-Class Park, none was given “despite several reminders to the minister by me personally and through my colleague and brother, Senator Smart Adeyemi, the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT.” She added that the development of the Maitama Transit Way was yet to commence. According to her, “the Maitama Transit Way will only be developed and linked to the light rail lines when completed, and everybody knows as fact that the light rail line project that will go round the FCT with linkages to many transit ways within the city is not anywhere near completion. “If A-Class Park and Events Centre is demolished with others on the transit ways as alleged by the FCTA, what will the FCTA do with the space since development of the transit ways is not even in contemplation now?” The Taraba-born lawmaker lamented that more than 200 employees at the highbrow park were about to lose their means of livelihood. She called on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the matter. “I am calling on him that he should see what his officers are doing because whether it is development control, whether it is FCTA, whether it is the minister or not, they are all members of the executive that are doing this, and they are doing this contrary to his vision of wanting to employ the Nigerian youths to make them useful to themselves and to Nigeria. “This single act of demolishing this park, they are just hiding behind assertion that no people have been building on transit ways. People have been building on corridors. Who gave the people permission to build? “If you are not authorised to be in a place in this FCT, will you stay one hour without being chased out by development control? “They gave all the people, knowing full well that these places are road corridors. Right now, why I am saying that it is a case of witch-hunting and persecution is because I know for a fact too that they are not ready now to develop this transit way. “I know too as a legislator that no money is given in the budget to develop this transit way. With due respect to them, it is not true. “They are not developing anything. They are just persecuting me.” But the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) yesterday said that its planned demolition of the park no political undertone. A statement by the Special Adviser (Media) to the FCT Minister, Nosike Ogbuenyi, said that the Development Control Department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) over a month ago commenced the processes leading to the closure and removal of all temporary recreational facilities situated on the public transit ways within the Abuja Federal Capital City as the Administration’s major road and railway projects were in progress. It added that the planned demolition of the of the park was in the public interest. The statement reads in part: “The attention of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has been drawn to a press conference conducted earlier today by Senator (Mrs) Aisha Jummai Al-Hassan where she claimed that the quit notice served on her event centre, A-Class, Maitama District by the FCTA had political undertone. “We wish to state that the quit notice has no political motive whatsoever as her facility is sitting on the public transit way. “As a matter of fact, the Development Control Department of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) over a month commenced the processes leading to the closure and removal of all temporary recreational facilities situated on the public transit ways within the Abuja Federal Capital City as the Administration’s major road and railway projects are in progress. “The quit notices being given in the course of the exercise are not targeted at any person or group of persons. They are also not politically motivated as claimed by Mrs. Alhassan. “Rather, they are part of FCTA’s routine administrative processes aimed at ensuring strict compliance with the provisions of the Abuja Master Plan. “The allegation by Mrs. Sani Alhassan, the owner of A-Class, one out of many affected gardens, that the administrative measures have political undertone is untrue and most uncharitable. “The A-Class is not the only recreation centre on the public transit way that was served quit notice. For instance, Leisure Park, which is directly opposite A-Class, among other non-conforming land users, was also served the same quit notice. “It will be recalled that at the end of a recent monthly FCTA Operational Briefing over a month ago, the FCT Executive Council had reiterated the determination of the Administration to strictly enforce the provisions of the Abuja Master Plan as an ongoing process. “In the process, a total of 202 cases of land use violation have been sealed across the Federal Capital City. “That shows clearly that there is no political motive whatsoever behind the quit notices, as they were informed by time honoured rules and regulations guiding development of structures in the Federal Capital City and such rules are not targeted at individuals or groups of persons. “Mrs. Sani Alhassan should therefore desist from reading political or other parochial meanings to normal and general administrative measures intended to uphold the intent of the Abuja Master Plan and the overriding public interest.” inShare Tagged with: DEMOLITION Previous: Atuche’s trial: Court orders EFCC to produce documents within seven days Next: Delta loses bid to claim $15m Ibori bribe money RELATED ARTICLES Baraje PDP secretariat for demolition 4 days ago Demolition of Mokola flyover barrier September 4, 2013 Oyo denies demolition of centre August 30, 2013 THE LATEST N225m bulletproof cars: Jonathan snubs Oduah in Israel 5 hours ago 2015:Power shift to North not negotiable—Northern leaders 5 hours ago Kwara LG poll: Tukur writes security agencies not to recognise New PDP’s candidates 5 hours ago Delta loses bid to claim $15m Ibori bribe money 5 hours ago PDP crisis: Another building marked for demolition in Abuja 5 hours ago Atuche’s trial: Court orders EFCC to produce documents within seven days 5 hours ago FG extends deadline for new number plates to June 2014 5 hours ago APC decries continued detention of its member in Edo despite court order 5 hours ago Soldiers kill 95 Boko Haram suspects in Borno, Yobe 5 hours ago Plateau cholera crisis worsens as death toll rises to 15 6 hours ago ARCHIVES October 2013 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 PAST ARCHIVES Archive 1 (2006-2008) Archive 2 (articles before June 22nd 2010) Archive 3 (articles before April 16 2011) Archive 4 (articles between April 2011 and September 20, 2012) CHANGE TEXT SIZE A A A A A STAY CONNECTED MORE FROM FEATURED N225m bulletproof cars: Jonathan snubs Oduah in Israel 2015:Power shift to North not negotiable—Northern leaders Kwara LG poll: Tukur writes security agencies not to recognise New PDP’s candidates Delta loses bid to claim $15m Ibori bribe money Jonathan, Mark, Tambuwal others honour Ekwunife at mother’s burial Sometimes you need to show some flesh—Nollywood actress Kemi Afolabi Delta loses bid to retrieve Ibori‘s $15m N255m bulletproof cars deal illegal, panel told PDP is dead, says governor ASUU: Jonathan was party to pact MORE FROM NEWS N225m bulletproof cars: Jonathan snubs Oduah in Israel 2015:Power shift to North not negotiable—Northern leaders Kwara LG poll: Tukur writes security agencies not to recognise New PDP’s candidates Delta loses bid to claim $15m Ibori bribe money Atuche’s trial: Court orders EFCC to produce documents within seven days FG extends deadline for new number plates to June 2014 APC decries continued detention of its member in Edo despite court order Soldiers kill 95 Boko Haram suspects in Borno, Yobe Plateau cholera crisis worsens as death toll rises to 15 Paucity of funds, bad terrain, obstacles to our developmental goals –Gov Dickson JOB VACANCIES © 2013, Powered By Zero-One
Posted on: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 07:17:26 +0000
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