At least twenty landlords in Gyadna community in the Abuja Municipal Area Council, who were allegedly denied compensation, have accused the Federal Capital Development Authority officials of fraud.

The complainants claimed that the officials colluded with some individuals in the village to embezzle the money awarded to them as compensation for their properties which had been marked for demolition for the expansion of a road by the FCT administration.

The lawyer representing the petitioners, Mr Okudili Nwator, said on Tuesday that the FCT administration officials had in March 2017, evaluated the properties in preparation for the payment of the compensation.

Nwator stated that the FCDA officials had given his clients forms and asked them to provide their bank account details to the Department of Resettlement and Compensation for payment on July 31, 2017.

He stated, “When our clients got to the FCDA office, they were informed that those forms were missing and were told that they would get back to them through the village head, Alhaji Jubril Hassan.”

The lawyer further said that his clients subsequently discovered that the FCDA officials conspired with the village leaders “and converted our clients’ compensation to their own using deception.”

Nwator said he had his clients’ instructions to challenge the action of the FCDA officials through every legal means that would result in the recovery of their diverted compensation.

But the Director, Planning and Resettlement, Ohamma Ndawii, said only Abuja indigenes and landlords with land allocation letters and approved building plans were paid compensation.

She said, “If you have those two documents, we can pay you; it’s a simple thing. If the person is not an indigene and does not have land allocation and building approval, how can the government pay you? There are constitutional provisions for payment for resettlement, so nobody can collect or embezzle another person’s money.”