Wike intensifies crack down on land fraud, nullifies Council titles

By Stanley Onyekwere

In furtherance to major move to sanitize the land administration system in the nation’s capital, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Barr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has approved the immediate nullification and cancellation of numerous applications for the regularisation of Area Council land titles.
The decision follows a rigorous forensic audit and “official checks for genuineness” conducted by the FCT Administration (FCTA).
According to an official public notice released by the administration, the cancelled applications were confirmed to be fake or forged, failing to meet the legal requirements for integration into the central database.
To this end, the minister further directed that these fraudulent applications be permanently expunged from the regularisation databases of the Department of Land Administration and the Abuja Geographic Information Systems (AGIS).
Recall that for years, the FCT has grappled with the challenge of “Area Council papers”—land titles issued by local council authorities before the centralisation of land matters.
While the FCTA opened a window for holders of these documents to regularise them into formal Certificates of Occupancy (C of O), the process has been plagued by racketeers submitting backdated or outrightly forged documents.
This latest action is seen as a fulfilment of Minister Wike’s promise to restore the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan and eliminate land grabbing.
Consequently, by “cleaning” the AGIS database, the FCTA aims to ensure that only legitimate landholders are granted formal recognition, thereby protecting unsuspecting investors from purchasing litigious or fraudulent properties.
“The under listed unsuccessful applicants are to take note of this public notice and be guided accordingly,.
This move is “without prejudice to further notices and/or publications”, the notice stated
It was gathered that any record of these applications has been deleted from the official FCTA/AGIS portal.
Also, the nullification means the applicants have no legal recognition over the plots in question based on the submitted documents.
Equally, the FCTA hinted that more lists may be published as the verification exercise continues.
The administration has advised members of the public to be extremely cautious when dealing with Area Council land titles and to always verify the status of any property through the proper channels at AGIS before committing funds.
Furthermore, the FCTA released the comprehensive list of affected applicants, citing that the documents failed necessary official chicks.
This cleanup exercise is expected to continue until the regularisation backlog is fully cleared of fraudulent entries.