The International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has said in Abuja that it has observed recurrent cases of land disputes arising from the lack of proper demarcation by the department of development control of the Federal Capital Territory Administration.
The country head of the IHRC in Nigeria, Ambassador Friday Sani at a press conference on Friday expressed concern that the body has also observed alleged violation of human rights by field officials of the department of development control of the FCTA.
He said the FCTA development control officials by their mandate were supposed to be an arbiter in the affairs of government and the residents.
IHRC was emphatic that lands and real property-related cases have constituted a major dispute in the territory with the FCTA not being able to discharge its arbitration powers, a situation the organization said caused disputes to linger.
Sani said: “The development control is expected to play the role of arbiter for the ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, but has become an agent of instigation of crises within two parties in land disputes.
“There was a case of Chief Oguejiofor Donatus vs Mrs Agum Philomena over a piece of land located at No. 69, Lome Crescent with file No kg 231178 in Wuse.
“The organization’s preliminary investigation discovered that the development control needed only to carry out a lawful demarcation of the plot, but failed to do so thereby leaving the assignor and the assignee in disputes.
The organization called on FG’s intervention in such cases to avoid a breach of the human rights of feuding parties.
He added: “While our meeting with Mrs Agum Philomena equally said, she was not in a contest of the land but prayed the development control to come and properly demarcate the said land which the development control has failed to do.
The IHRC noted that whenever there were disputes of any form, there has always been a breach of human rights, adding that the government should intervene to avoid the feuding parties taking laws into their hands.