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Akande Says FAAN Lied, Disputed Airport Land Belongs To AIC

Contrary to claims by the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) that a Court judgement has relinquished the title of a 15 hectare land at the Murtala … Continue reading Akande Says FAAN Lied, Disputed Airport Land Belongs To AIC


Contrary to claims by the Federal Airport Authority (FAAN) that a Court judgement has relinquished the title of a 15 hectare land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos to it, a concessionaire, AIC Limited, has insisted that it is still the rightful owner of the property.

On Tuesday, personnel of FAAN and some officials of AIC Nigeria Limited, engaged in a free for all over the said piece of land.

FAAN had taken possession of the land ceded to AIC for the construction of a hotel following a court ruling and yesterday deployed its workers to clear the land with two tractors.

The Chairman of AIC, Harry Akande, guarded by armed policemen and some of his workers invaded the land to prevent FAAN officials from working on the land, even as he said the court ruling did not direct FAAN to take possession of the land.

The scuffle which lasted for several hours attracted the attention of travellers and airport users. Some Policemen from the MurtalaMuhammed Airport led by Assistant Commissioner of Police (Operations), Chucks Enwonwu were around to restore peace while appealing to the parties to settle the matter amicably.

Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily on Thursday, Lou Akande said FAAN’s spokesman, Yakubu Daiti was economical with the truth when he claimed that the hotel AIC proposed to build on the land will obstruct the airport operations and expansion.

Mr Daiti, who was featured earlier in the programme, had said FAAN “went to court and the court gave us the land” insisting that for AIC to build the proposed hotel conflicts with over-riding national interest.

He had said, “There’s issues of security; you can’t have a hotel overlooking the runways and apron especially in this era of terrorism.”
Mr Akande however said AIC considered these and other factors before entering a lease agreement with FAAN.

He said, “It is disheartening to see someone talking from both sides of their mouth.

“Mr Daiti said that the land was earmarked for terminal expansion, we took that into consideration when we were negotiating the lease.”

Asked whether it was true that in seeking self-help as claimed by the FAAN spokesman, AIC recruited thugs to chase out airport workers from the disputed land, Mr Akande, who said he was present at the scene of the Tuesday scuffle all the people that accompanied his father and him to the airport were AIC staff.

He said, “I’m not a thug. All the people that you saw there were AIC staff. AIC was actually put into possession of the land in 1998 and there has been no court order asking AIC to leave. AIC is in possession of the land.

“If FAAN believes that the court judgement or arbitration has given them right to recover the land from AIC prior to the expiration of the lease all they have to do is go to court, get your writ of repossession or eviction and as soon as the police say, listen, you have to leave, we are law-abiding citizens, we will leave.

Threat to Kill

Reacting to a threat from a policeman to ‘gun down’ a FAAN Official during the brawl, Mr Akande said the officer was his father’s bodyguard.

He said the policeman was provoked when FAAN official breached the fence on the land and started throwing stones at the staff and Chairman of AIC.

He said, “When FAAN representatives started breaching the fence that we have put up and stared throwing stones at Chief Akande then his security stepped in to say no, you cannot attack this man – which you did not hear on the tape.”

Mr Akande said the police man threatened to ‘gun down’ the FAAN official who wanted to disarm him.