THE House of Representatives Committee on Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Tuesday directed former President of the Senate and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, to produce all relevant documents related to the multibillion dollars Centenary City project Agreement currently being investigated by the committee.
The Committee Chaired by Hon Herman Hembe gave the directive yesterday in Abuja at the resumed investigation of the project.
It also demanded for full explanation from Anyim, why he continued to act on behalf of the company even when the government said the project was private sector driven.
The committee in addition wanted the former president of the National Assembly to explain his interest in the project.
This came just as the Committee walked out the Counsel of Centenary City Plc, the company that handled the Centenary City Project for what members described as “unruly behaviour.”
The Counsel who appeared alongside the Managing Director of the company, Odenigwe Michaels, said they were at the hearing to make an objection, but the committee Chairman , said he would only be allowed to speak at the appropriate time.
However, the lawyer insisted to speak, saying they had made allegations against the Chairman and that he should step aside as the committee chairman to allow his deputy take charge.
The development forced some of the lawmakers and stakeholders to shut the lawyer down even as he continued to speak.
According to Hon Hembe, “You cannot dictate to us how things should be done here. I’m a lawyer like you, so I know the procedure. This is parliament; you should learn to respect us,” Hembe said.
When the lawmakers observed that the lawyer was bent on continuing, the operatives of the Sergeant-At-Arms, were invited to walk him out of the venue while the MD followed suit.
Following their exits, the former FCT minister, Bala Mohammed, who allocated the land for the Centenary City was quizzed on why he allocated the land on April 10, 2014, before signing the Development Agreement on April 11 against the guidelines.
The Committee also queried Mohammed on why he did not terminate the contract after the company failed to meet up with some obligations in more than 180 days as required by the development agreement.
Mohammed further queried the former minister for changing the programme, which was meant to take similar shape with the land swap policy, into a complete development agreement.
Why responding, the former FCT Minister said the practice in the FCT Administration was to make sure that land for any project was made available before signing any agreement.
He said the issue of time line ass embedded in the Land Use Act, but that they always exercised restraint on matters like this.
A member of the committee, Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi, demanded to know why the Centenary City land, which was initially allocated to some individuals, was revoked and if compensation was paid.
However in his response, Bala disclosed that some portions of that land were allocated by the Area Council arbitrarily, which made it possible for revocation, adding that as FCT minister, he had the powers to revoke any land allocation based on public interest.
The Committee further queried the rationale behind contracting Centenary City Plc for the project when the two companies; Basic Start Limited and Company First Limited, which merged to set it up were owned by two persons, namely Mr Paul Oki and Mrs Boma Ozobia with 10,000 shares for each of the companies.
But the former director of the Abuja Infrastructure Investment Company (AIIC), Farouq Sani, the company said those shareholders only registered it as professional promoters for investors to come in.
In a related development, the original owners of the land used for the Centenary City Project have urged the committee to revoke the allocation land their land be given back to them.
The owners said since their land was taken, neither did they get compensation nor reallocation over the years.
A representative of the land owners, Felix Osuji, told the committee that his company along with others got allocation for the land in April 2011 from the former minister.
He said after they had gone far with work on the land, the government revoked their allocation and failed to compensate them.