The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday approved a request from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to take temporary control of two plots of land originally approved for the Goodluck Jonathan Legacy Model Housing Estate.
The ruling was made after ICPC filed a motion asking the court to stop any sale or use of the land while a main suit is being decided.
The court order affects two large plots in the Kaba District of Abuja.
One of the plots measures about 122,015 square meters and is valued at over N1.9 billion, while the other spans 157,198 square meters and is worth over N3.3 billion.
ICPC told the court that the lands were originally set aside by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to build 962 low-cost housing units for Nigerians under a government housing scheme.
The Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) was in charge of managing the project and working with a private developer, Good Earth Power Nigeria Limited.
Investigations by the anti-graft agency revealed that FMBN approved the project in 2012 and signed an agreement with the developer.
A consultant was also appointed to monitor the project and report back for payments to be made as work progressed.
However, ICPC said that despite disbursing the full loan amount of $65 million (around N14 billion at the time) to the developer, no single house was built on the land.
The commission explained that the developer was not registered with the appropriate real estate body, which was a condition for such payments.
The funds were allegedly paid without proper checks, and the agency feared that the land might be secretly sold to unsuspecting buyers, just like the funds were disbursed without results.
According to ICPC, the value of the land has now risen to over N200 billion, but those behind the company, including some foreign nationals, have reportedly gone into hiding.
ICPC requested the court to grant a temporary order of forfeiture and to allow the agency to publish a notice in a national newspaper so that anyone who claims to have an interest in the property can come forward and explain why it should not be permanently taken over by the federal government.
In granting the request, Justice Mohammed Umar asked why such a large amount of money was fully released without seeing progress on the site. The case was adjourned until October 27 for a report on the execution of the court’s order.
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