The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has responded Prince Joseph Kpokpogri after the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) demolished his multi-million naira mansion in Abuja on Saturday.
Prince Kpokpogri, has cried out on Saturday morning after some officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority FCDA invaded his Abuja property and demolished it.
In the video he made, a distraught Kpokpogri said the officials invaded his home without any prior notice. He implied that the authorities had said that a road was to be constructed in that area and asked him to sell off his property. He alleged that his refusal to sell the house led to the demolition.
Kpokpogri claimed that the decision to pull down his mansion worth over N700 million was an act of oppression.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that officials of FHA, alongside its Managing Director, Gbenga Ashafa, visited the site of the doomed building three days ago, in the company of some top management team of FCTA.
The officials claimed that the plot of land originally belonged to FHA, but a proper building plan was not approved before the mansion was erected.
According to FHA, notices to stop work were served at different stages and times of the work, but Kpokpogri refused to comply.
Also, the Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Malam Shehu Hadi, who was also in the team that visited the site, said the road alignment had been done long ago and FHA was duly notified.
Hadi noted that the alignment, which the demolished building obstructed, was designed to serve as an important bye-pass to the Abuja-Keffi axis.
He added that any plan to realign the road because of the building would be difficult and not a fair judgment to those that it would affect, considering that the demolished building was not in existence earlier when the plan started.
Speaking on the development, the Director, FCTA Department of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, said the mansion, was unapproved, and couldn’t be allowed to override public interest.
He said the building was an obstruction to a major road network, connecting the popular Apo Bridge to many parts of the city.
He explained that the land has been duly allocated to carry out its Mass Housing Programmes.
