FCT Local Contractors Write National Assembly Over Colleague’s Detention On Wike’s Orders, Seek Payment For N5.2Billion Completed Jobs
SaharaReporters in September reported how the contractor was arrested and detained on the minister’s directive for sending him a WhatsApp post detailing the suffering being faced by his family due to Wike’s refusal to settle his completed contract.
Some contractors in the Federal Capital Territory, under the aegis of Association of Indigenous Contractors of FCT, have again petitioned the National Assembly over rights abuses meted out to their colleague by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.
SaharaReporters in September reported how the contractor was arrested and detained on the minister’s directive for sending him a WhatsApp post detailing the suffering being faced by his family due to Wike’s refusal to settle his completed contract.
The petition obtained by SaharaReporters on Tuesday threw fresh light on the arrest and detention of the contractors’ colleague, Mr. Benson Ehuwa, on Wike’s orders on Monday, September 23, 2024.
The correspondence also sought the Senators’ intervention to get the minister to fulfil the “contractual obligation” amounting to N5.2 billion awarded for various public projects such as drainage, sewage, and many others.
In the petition titled ‘Re-Nonpayment of Contractual Liabilities by the FCTA Authorities To The Indigenous Contractors of FCTA And Request For Your Urgent Intervention’, the contractors, among others, painted a graphic picture of how Wike mistreated their colleague.
The document was signed by five representatives of the association, namely Mr. Chuka Muojindu, Mr Andy Kor, Jamilu Gwandu, Dan Maurice Uche and Ogbonna Lewis.
The document reads in part, “We subsequently made efforts to see the Minister again through his Chief of Staff and Head of Service, all to no avail.
“We decided to escalate the matter by way of a peaceful protest on two occasions in July and August, 2024, during which the Minister invited the police to disperse us with teargas.
“On Monday, 23 September,2024, the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, acting on the instruction of FCT Minister, arrested one of us, Mr Benson Ehuwa, on the ground that he chatted the Minister on WhatsApp appealing to him to pay him his contract money to enable him pay his bills as his children were out of school.”
The group further alleged that upon Ehuwa’s arrest, Wike personally took over the investigation and quizzed the member.
It said, “Upon his arrest, he was taken to the Minister’s office where the Minister queried him on how he got his contact phone number and if he knows him personally and if he ever gave him any contract.
“The Minister without hearing out from Mr Benson Ehuwa, asked the police to go and detain him for two weeks without bail, pending investigation.
“The police authorities upon completing their investigation, found out that Mr Benson was being owed by the FCTA but still charged him to court on Friday, 27th September, 2024.”
The contractors have been engaged in a protracted battle to get the minister to clear pay contract money. The contracts were awarded by the FCT Administration (FCTA).
They stated that they had taken their outcry for intervention in the payment matter to some prominent Nigerians, including some unidentified colleagues of Wike in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and others outside the National Assembly, to no avail.
According to them, most of those contacted expressed fear that Wike would revoke the titles on their properties in the nation’s capital as, according to them, the man had “great temerity” to do so.
Besides, the minister is said to have rebuffed entreaties by his close aides to get him to pay the contractors.
A source said: “He warned his personal staff not to bring to him any correspondence regarding the contractors’ money issue, stressing that he would never pay them. “No staff member wants to lose his/her job, so even if we take any further letter on the matter to his registry, such correspondence will be rejected outright.”
Meanwhile, the contractors have reportedly resorted to begging as most of them cannot meet up with family responsibilities including children’s school fees, feeding, rent, fuel for vehicles, and other basic needs.
According to them, they executed contracts under several past FCT ministers and had no problems getting paid after due diligence was done by government officials on their completed jobs.
The contractors further claimed further that though Wike refused to settle their contract bills, he has been awarding fresh contracts to cronies and others, and paying them promptly.
The document correspondence followed an earlier one dated July 8, 2024, which was addressed to the Chairman, Senate Committee on FCT, Sen. Ibrahim Mohamed Bomai, and received by him on July 9,2024.
