Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has disowned Prince Joseph Kpokpogiri’s claim after the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) pulled down his multi-million naira mansion in Abuja on Saturday morning.
Kpokpogiri, the estranged lover of Popular Nollywood star, Tonto Dikeh, had claimed that the decision to pull down his mansion worth over N700m was an act of oppression.
He alleged that his house was demolished because he refused to sell it to some ” powerful ” but unnamed individuals who had begged him to sell the property to them.
Ocials of FHA, alongside its Managing Director, Gbenga Ashafa, who visited the site three days ago in company of some top Management team of FCTA, admitted that the plot of land originally belonged to FHA, but denied that proper building plan was approved before the mansion was erected.
FHA affirmed that notices to stop work were served at different stages and time of the work, but Kpokpogiri refused to comply.
The Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, Engr. Shehu Hadi, also said the road alignment had been done long ago and FHA was duly notified.
Hadi noted that the road alignment, which the demolished building obstructs, was designed to serve as an important bypass to Abuja-Keffi axis.
He added that any plan to realign the road because of the building would be difficult and not fair judgement to those that it would affect, considering that the demolished building was not in existence earlier when the plan started.
Also speaking, the Director, Department of Development Control, Muktar Galadima, said the mansion, located in the highbrow District of Guzape, Abuja, was unapproved and could not be allowed to override public interest.
Galadima noted that the mansion, sitting on a rock in the fast developing district, was an obstruction to a major road network connecting the popular Apo bridge to many parts of the city, adding that FHA was duly allocated the area in the district to carry out its Mass Housing Programme.
He further clarified that when the road network of the district was officially realigned, FHA was promptly notified that some plots of lands within its area have been affected, and subsequently ordered not to allow any further development.
“There is adequate inter-agency cooperation. The Federal Housing Authority ( FHA) approached the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) for allocation, and they were given global approval and were asked to make sure that whatever they do aligns with the approval.
” The plot in question was part of what was in the allocation, but because of the importance of the road, we wrote to FHA, notifying it that a number of your plots have been affected the realignment of the road, and that we are going to give it replacement plots.
“We told them that no development should be allowed on the plots, and this was around 2019. We came for site visit and had given them notice. We even marked the building for demolition but the owner cleaned it off,” Galadima said.
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