TheNewsGuru

Tag: Houses

  • Houses set ablaze in Jigawa community

    Houses set ablaze in Jigawa community

    At least 26 thatched houses and 16 granaries were burnt in a communal clash in Taura Local Government Area (LGA) of Jigawa, the police have confirmed.

    Police spokesman SP Lawan Shiisu said in a statement in Dutse on Monday that the incident occurred during a conflict between residents of two communities in the LGA.

    “On Sunday, at about 21:45 hours, residents of Gidan Na Ruwa Fulani Settlement, Taura LGA, saw a large group from Zangon Maje Village flashing torches and chanting war slogans.

    “This prompted all villagers to flee for their lives,” he added.

    Shiisu said that, upon receiving the report, the Divisional Police Officer of Taura and his patrol team swiftly rushed to the scene.

    “When they arrived, the team discovered that youths from Zangon Maje had attacked and set fire to 24 thatched houses and 16 local granaries,” Shiisu said.

    He explained that a preliminary investigation showed the trouble began when Musa Hussaini, 20, and Shanu Sule, 26, both from Zangon Maje, were beaten and their motorcycle stolen.

    As a result, the victims raised the alarm and mobilised members of their community to retaliate, leading to the violent confrontation.

    Shiisu, however, said normalcy had since been restored, and patrols were being intensified to prevent further disturbances.

    According to him, the Area Commander in charge of Ringim led a police team to the affected areas on Monday, meeting stakeholders and engaging in dialogue.

    Shiisu added that five suspects had been arrested and were in custody, assisting with the investigation.

    “The command urges citizens to avoid taking the law into their own hands and to report grievances to the proper authorities for a swift response,” Shiisu said.

    He warned that anyone found guilty of violence would face severe consequences.

  • Tinubu to build 40 houses for judges

    Tinubu to build 40 houses for judges

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has given its approval for the building of 40 houses designated for judges and justices in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, shared this information with reporters at the State House in Abuja following the Federal Executive Council meeting led by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    The initiative, which is a component of the government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, seeks to ensure that judges have access to safe and comfortable housing.

  • 10 persons killed, 10 houses razed down in Plateau attack

    10 persons killed, 10 houses razed down in Plateau attack

    The Police Command in Plateau says gunmen killed 10 persons, razed down 10 houses, and injured two others in the Jan. 24 attack at Kwahaslalek Community of Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau.

    DSP Alfred Alabo, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command disclosed this while addressing newsmen on Thursday in Jos.

    Alabo explained that one vehicle and other property worth millions were equally destroyed during the attack.

    ”So far, over ten corpses have been recovered from various locations in Mangu, two injured persons currently receiving treatment at the hospital.

    ”One car and ten houses were burnt down,” he said.

    However, the Mwaghavul Development Association (MDA), a socio-cultural group, had alleged that 30 persons were killed during the attack.

    Joseph Gwankat, National Presisent of MDA, said that those killed were largely women and children.

    Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of the state condemned the killings and called on the security agencies to be proactive toward safeguarding the lives and property of the people.

    Mutfwang, who appealed for calm, called on the people to be law abiding and support security agencies to carry out their duties effectively.

    He, however, warned that his administration would not tolerate any further breakdown of law and order in any part of the state.

  • FCTA to revoke houses converted for other uses

    FCTA to revoke houses converted for other uses

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike has approved the withdrawal and revocation of houses sold to individuals by the FCT Administration but converted to other uses.

    Mr Mukhtar Galadima, Director, Department of Development Control, FCTA, disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

    Galadima recalled that the Federal Government in 2005 initiated the monetisation programme because of the cost of maintaining the houses.

    He explained that the houses were sold to the occupiers so that they could maintain them.

    He, however, said that after some time, some of the beneficiaries converted the houses from residential to other uses.

    This, according to him, constitutes so much burden in terms of city administration and management that this administration felt it cannot condone any longer.

    “It is on this note that the minister has approved and directed that all owners of such properties should revert the use of the properties to its original and designated land use which is residential.

    “Failing to comply with this directive as from Nov. 1, the house is considered as revoked.

    “We are given such persons and individuals to the end of October to revert to original uses, otherwise from Nov. 1, they should consider such properties as revoked and returned to FCTA,” he said.

    The director said that so far, the department has recorded more than 111 cases of land use conversion in respect of the sold houses, cutting across all the districts of the capital city.

    He added that owners of the properties have been informed and given notices to revert to the original land uses but failed to comply.

    According to him, once these houses are revoked the FCTA will decide the next line of action.

    “The minister has also directed that owners of properties, particularly along major streets that have converted their properties to other uses without approval should either revert to original use or pay contravention charges.

    “Anyone that fails to comply with such a directive, the administration will take appropriate action, which may include revocation.

    “It is on this note that we felt it wise to inform the public of the decision and directive of the FCT Administration with regards to the indiscriminate conversion of land uses in FCT.

    “This is done to maintain the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan.”

  • Kano State Govt. builds 2,000 houses for teachers – Ganduje

    Kano State Govt. builds 2,000 houses for teachers – Ganduje

    The Kano State Government says it is building houses for teachers across the state to make the teaching profession attractive, Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje has said.

    Ganduje disclosed this while declaring open a two-day NUJ delegates conference currently holding in Kano.
    The conference, which is being attended by about 300 delegates, has the theme: “Conflict-Sensitive Reporting And Nigerian Journalism.”

    The governor informed the conference that more than 2,000 of the houses had been completed, out of which about 750 would be commissioned in Kano metropolis by President Muhammadu Buhari during his planned visit to the state.

    Ganduje said the houses were not free of charge, but that the state government would provide the enabling environment, through the banks, for the teachers to acquire them.

    He also told the gathering that his administration had increased the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years, to enhance the quality of the teaching profession in the state.

    Similarly, the governor disclosed the state government had allowed teachers in the state to further their education, to improve their qualification as well as the quality of education in the state.

    This, the governor said, had made the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) the minimum teaching qualification in the state.

    He commended the decision of the NUJ to hold the conference in Kano which he said was the commercial nerve centre of the North and some African countries as well as the most peaceful state in Nigeria.

    Ganduje said his administration had ensured excellent working relations between it and practising journalists in the state and the media in general, as well as freest environment for expression of opinion.

    To strengthen the relationship, he said government had constructed corner shops at the state NUJ Secretariat to help serve as a source of revenue for the union, in addition to the standardisation of its Conference Hall.”

    He also said that government had released funds for the purchase of code machines for the state-owned Triumph Publishing Company for possible resumption of daily publication of its Newspapers such as the Triumph, Weekend Triumph, Sunday Triumph, Alfijir and Albishir.

    Similarly, the governor disclosed that the state government had digitised the state-owned Abubakar Rimi Television with the supply and installation of state-of-the-art equipment, while the studios of Radio Kano had been fully equipped with modern transmission gadgets.

    The state Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, described Ganduje as a media-friendly Governor, in view of his commitment to the enhancement of the welfare of journalists and the journalism profession.

    Garba said the governor had done everything to enhance the growth of the profession in the state, citing the equipping of the state-owned media – the Abubakar Rimi Television and Radio Kano, as well as the reopening and revitalization of the Triumph Publishing Company, among other gestures.

    Earlier, the Chief Host and President of the NUJ, Chief Chris Isiguzo, thanked Gov Abdullahi Ganduje for his financial support and participation in the conference.

    “This occasion would have been less attractive and exciting without the financial support and participation of our beloved Special Guest of Honour, His Excellency, Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State.

  • EFCC returns recovered 11 choice houses to Arthur Eze

    EFCC returns recovered 11 choice houses to Arthur Eze

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has returned eleven houses recovered in different parts of Enugu to business mogul, Arthur Eze.

    The said properties were recovered by the EFCC from the duo of Olisaebuka Okechukwu Eze and Onyeka Nnadozie Eze, administration and finance manager respectively in Arthur Eze’s firm, accused of criminal breach of trust and diversion of funds belonging to the business mogul.

    Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the Anti-graft commission’s spokesman revealed this in a statement on Monday in Abuja.

    According to the commission, the investigation established that the duo who is also the nephew of the business mogul used proceeds of their alleged criminal activities to acquire choice properties in Enugu and other parts of South Eastern Nigeria.

    Uwujaren said the anti-graft agency in the course of the investigation initiated forfeiture proceedings against the two company officials before Justice I.M Buba of the Federal High Court, Enugu, which granted an interim order of forfeiture of the said properties, directing the defendants to show cause why the properties should not be finally forfeited.

    “In the absence of any contrary information, the Court on October 18, 2021, ordered that the properties be finally forfeited and returned to the nominal complainant, Chief Arthur Eze,” Uwujaren said.

    Receiving the properties in Enugu, Eze expressed gratitude to the EFCC for ensuring that justice is served.

    “I am grateful to the Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, the Zonal Commander and all your men who fought for justice to be served,” Eze said.

    “I am aware that, at some point, your men risked their lives for this cause. I pray that God who has been keeping you will always protect you. I am here in person to thank you for all that you did for me when those whom I call my own, stole from me”.

    The Enugu Zonal Commander of the EFCC, Oshodi Johnson, who handed the properties to the businessman, commended the investigative and prosecution teams as well as the judiciary for ensuring that justice is served in the case.

  • Court orders final forfeiture of 60 houses, land illegally acquired by ex-NSCDC Commandant to FG

    Court orders final forfeiture of 60 houses, land illegally acquired by ex-NSCDC Commandant to FG

    A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the final forfeiture of 60 buildings illegally acquired by a former Deputy Commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC), Adenike Ishola Bintu, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    This is according to a statement on Friday by the spokesperson of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mrs. Azuka Ogugua.

    The ICPC in a forfeiture proceeding had approached Justice O. A. Egwuata, praying for an order for the final forfeiture of the 60 buildings and a 9.6-hectare plot of land, both located at Sabon-Lugbe South-West Extension, Airport Road, Abuja, alleged to have been acquired by Bintu through corrupt means.

    Counsel to ICPC, John-Paul Okwor, told the court that the Commission was relying on Section 48 (1) (2) and (3) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, which gives it power to approach the courts to forfeit properties corruptly acquired by individuals.

    The Commission had argued before the court that the former NSCDC Deputy Commandant, set up a private company, Faith Winners Victory Properties Limited, through which she allegedly perpetrated the fraud by selling plots of land to unsuspecting members of the public.

    The court heard that Bintu claimed that the land, which she used to dupe over 1000 people that subscribed into the estate business, was owned in partnership with NSCDC.

    However, the subscribers, who had made several payments running into millions of naira, were never allocated plots of land nor had their funds returned to them by Bintu and her company.

    Furthermore, ICPC proved before the court that Bintu, who had jumped bail and is now a fugitive, did not enter into any partnership with NSCDC to build estates for members of the public.

    She told the court in her argument that ICPC had no powers to prosecute civil cases and that Sections 6 and 48 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, relied upon by the Commission have been repealed by the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2003. Therefore, the case should be struck out, she prayed.

    Her arguments were dismissed by the court for lack of merit, and Justice Egwuata then ruled that all the 60 buildings and the 9.6 hectares of land situated at Sabon-Lugbe South-West Extension, Airport Road, Abuja, listed by ICPC be forfeited to the federal government.

  • Cyber fraud: Court orders interim forfeiture of two houses, cars linked to Invictus Obi serving 10-year jail term in US

    Cyber fraud: Court orders interim forfeiture of two houses, cars linked to Invictus Obi serving 10-year jail term in US

    A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the temporary forfeiture of two houses in Abuja and two cars traced to the convicted cybercriminal, Obinwanne George Okeke also known as Invictus Obi.

    Justice Peter Lifu made the order on October 29, 2021 following an ex parte motion filed and argued by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) counsel, Chinenye Okezie.

    According to the EFCC, the properties will be used to restitute foreign victims of Invictus Obi’s fraud through the United States of America Consulate.

    The houses to be forfeited are House 4 Oakville Estate, Kado Kuchi, Abuja and another five-bedroom duplex at Standard Estate, Kabusa, Abuja.

    The vehicles are a Toyota Corolla with Registration Number: RBC6238N and another unregistered Toyota Corolla Sport.

    In granting the order, Justice Lifu held: “I have listened to the submission of the counsel to the applicant vis-a-vis affidavit filed in support. I hold in my considered view that this application is meritorious and ought to be granted

    “Consequently this application is hereby granted as prayed.”

    The judge also ordered that the Commission should publish the order in a widely read newspaper in Nigeria within 14 days for any interested party to show cause why the order should not be permanently made.

    He adjourned till November 30 to make a final decision on the forfeiture application.

    The EFCC supported its application for the forfeiture with an affidavit sworn by one of its investigators, Usman Abdulhamid.

    Abdulhamid noted that Invictus Obi had already forfeited N280,555,010, N240,250,904.46 and N40,304,106.19 to the Federal Government.

    He said: “On further investigation by the Commission, two more properties were traced belonging to the convict, along with two vehicles parked in the residence.

    “This application is pertinent in order to restitute the victims of the fraud through the United States of America Consulate.

    “This matter is of very urgent public interest and concern as it directly tarnishes the image of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Nigeria among the comity of nations.

    “The properties sought to be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria by the Applicant were not procured through legitimate earnings of the Respondent but are reasonably suspected to be part of the fraudulent activities which the Respondent has been convicted for.”

    In 2016, Obi was celebrated by Forbes as one of Africa’s “most outstanding 30 entrepreneurs under the age of 30.”

    He is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in America for his involvement in a computer-based intrusion fraud scheme amounting to $11 million.

  • ICPC recovers 301 houses from two civil servants in Abuja

    ICPC recovers 301 houses from two civil servants in Abuja

    Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor Bolaji Owasanoye disclosed that the Agency had successfully recovered 301 houses from two public officers in the nation’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

    The revelation came at the inauguration of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Investigation of the Operations of Real Estate Developers on Thursday.

    The ICPC chairman said that while 241 buildings were recovered from one of the suspects at different locations within the FCT, the remaining 60 were recovered on a large expanse of land at another location.

    Prof Owasanoye, who did not disclose the names of the affected civil servants,

    lamented the alarming rate at which corrupt public officers were using real estate investment as a vehicle for hiding ill-gotten wealth and money laundering in the country.

    He, however, accused the officials of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) as collaborators in the scam.

    According to him, “Public officers acquire estates in pseudonyms to conceal the illegal origin of funds. This is made possible by the absence of proper documentation, the registration of titles to land and estates in the country and the non-enforcement of beneficial ownership standards.

    “A tour round Abuja, especially the metropolis and the Central Area, would show a lot of estates that are built up but empty. If they had been constructed with funds that were borrowed at market rates, I don’t think any investor would leave such proprieties empty.

    “One way or the other they would put them to use. So it is suspected that some of those estates have been used to launder ill-gotten public funds.”

    He revealed that the agency recovered a total of N53,968,158,974.64 after completing the task of the defunct Special Presidential Investigation Panel on recovery of public property in collaboration with the FMBN to investigate some real estate developers who defaulted in remittance and payment of money due to the government.

    He added that the agency had received a number of petitions from stakeholders in the real estate and housing sector, off-takers, prospective buyers and the general public regarding the behaviour and antics of real estate developers within and outside Abuja.

    According to him, “they border on forgery, the closing of land documents, double or multiple land allocations, allocation of land without the minister’s approval, revocation of land title without due process, non-delivery of projects, embezzlement of sourced capital, land racketeering, the use of land syndicates and speculators, the marketing of fake layouts, fraudulent allocation of land, inordinate delay in the processing of land documents for those who subscribe to their projects, general abuse of office, bribery, dishonesty, fraud, payment scams, or the refusal of government itself to pay fair value for acquired land and the concomitant refusal of settlers and traditional owners to give access to legitimate land allottees and other related issues and challenges”.

    He explained that in addressing some of the issues raised in the petitions that were forwarded to the ICPC, they have at different times successfully investigated and prosecuted some errant public officers and their collaborators.

    Such collaborators, he said, include staff of the Federal Capital Development Authority, staff of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, persons who abused public trust, fraudulent real estate development operatives and other ancillary people who have further deepened the mass housing gap in the FCT.

    He also accused the Real Estate Developers of the Association of Nigeria (REDAN) of working with some unscrupulous persons in the system to thwart the efforts of the government to provide housing for the citizenry.

  • Hoodlums raid Abia community, destroy houses

    Hoodlums raid Abia community, destroy houses

    Hoodlums on Monday stormed Okoko and Amaokwe villages of Item community in the Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, shooting indiscriminately in the air.

    Though nobody was murdered, cars, houses, and other valuables were destroyed.

    TheNewsGuru gathered that hoodlums, pretending to enforce the Monday stay-at-home on behalf of the Indigenous People of Biafra, went to the community market square, Eke-Nta, in Okoko Item, where they shot without purpose, a situation that caused tension among residents who fled for their lives.

    It was, however, not clear if the attack had to do with the enforcement of sit-at-home order, which had since been suspended by the proscribed IPOB.

    The residents who had gathered for their normal businesses were forced to close shops.

    The hoodlums later headed to Amaokwe Item and left through Item-Igbere exit route.