The House of Representatives’ Ad hoc Committee set up to investigate land allocation in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from 2011 to date has assured the public that there is no going back on its assignment.
Speaking with reporters on Monday, the chairman of the committee, Bunmi Daramola, allayed the fears being expressed in some quarters that members of the House of Representatives may have succumbed to pressure to shelve the probe.
The Ad Hoc Committee is charged to investigate improper allocation and cases of land racketeering in Mass Housing Scheme, Land Swap Scheme and Residential Plots by the FCT administration from 2010 to date.
Daramola, said the postponement of the scheduled public hearing was occasioned by the Sallah break and absence of speaker Aminu Tambuwal who was billed to declare the public hearing open to give it the much needed backing.
While assuring that the investigation would go ahead as planned, he however assured that the exercise not targeted at witch-hunting anybody, adding that the committee would rely solely on memoranda that would be presented to it.
The Representative spoke further, “The postponement was partly due to the Sallah break and the absence of the leadership of the House to inaugurate the investigation and give it due credence.
“It is not true that the Committee or its members are under any pressure, either to shelve the investigation or influence the work of the Committee. I am not aware of any.
“It is just that in an assignment of this magnitude, it is not out of place for people to insinuate all kinds of things but it is not right. I can also say it is as a result of the distrust that has been a problem in our body polity which we have to address”.
While urging the public not to lose confidence in the committee, Daramola added that “There is nothing clandestine about it. The is not like the fuel subsidy controversy; we are talking about land and this is a tangible thing. I don’t see any reason why people should be afraid.
“Nobody is playing any script. All our investigations will be done in the open but we are going there like blind magistrates. We are not going to fish for any information to nail anybody. We will work and make recommendations based on the preponderance of information that will be made available to us.
“Memoranda have been pouring in from the stakeholders and other interested Nigerians and from that, it is like Nigerians are restive about the investigation.
“The memoranda with us for now are very topical and very encouraging and the Committee would not take any more from 30th of this month and we have also provided opportunity for Nigerians abroad or those that may not be able to make presentations physically by hosting a website for the investigation.
“With this Nigerians can access the activities of the ad-hoc Committee, and as I said earlier, this is to show that we have nothing to hide”.
