An official of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Legal Services Secretariat, Mr. Ehimony Joshua, alleged to have demanded for N525 million bribe from 15 allotees of 206 hectares of land in Kyami District, Abuja, in sum of N35million each, has denied the allegation.
Allegation of the said bribery scandal was specifically made against the FCTA official on Friday last week before the Senate Committee on FCT by three out of the 15 allotees as a result of litigation caveat yet to be lifted from their land allocation files at the land allocation department of the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA).
The litigation caveat, as stated in the petition submitted by the petitioners, came about as a result of litigation slammed against the 15 allotees by Toni Asuni and Bashiru Dantata on behalf of Nigeria Polo Association as purported first allotee of the land which supposed to have been vacated when the High Court of FCT , Abuja struck out the case on the grounds that “Registered Trustees of Nigeria Polo Association could not be found in the register of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).”
Specifically, one of the petitioners, Lady Laurel king, alleged that Mr. Joshua in a recorded telephone conversation with her project coordinator, Bishop David Angel, on March 23, 2016, submitted two different personal bank accounts into which her own N35 million bribe should be paid in sums of N30 million and N5 million, respectively, but which she, however, said was not paid by her.
But when confronted by the committee to react to the allegation, the FCDA official in the presence of top officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) denied it in its entirety.
In the presence of Lady King, he declared that they had never met in life and that he had no any fraudulent financial transactions with her project coordinator, Angel, who according to him just have personal relationship with him.
“It, therefore, baffles my imagination that such personal relationship and interaction can be used to drive this type of killing allegation,” he said.
Though the committee Chairman, Senator Dino Melaye, did not allow the embattled FCDA official to defend himself further by hitting the gavel to end the session, but when cornered by journalists after the session, he insisted that he did not demand for bribe from any of the 15 allotees.
Meanwhile, the Melaye-led committee had ordered the FCTA authority to set up an investigative panel for further probe of the allegation at their own level, while the Senate committee would submit its findings and recommendation to the Senate on resumption from current recess next month.
