Even as he bade his long goodbye at age 86, January 4th, frontline
author, late Chief Cyprian Ekewnsi probably did so with a heavy heart,
despite his literary accomplishment. A sad victim of Mallam Nasir
El-Rufai’s hysterical land revocation drive, while as FCT minister, the late
literary icon, before he breathed his last on November 4th, 2007,
literally went down on his knees severally, not minding the age gap,
before the former minister, begging to be allowed his only property in
the federal capital territory, an undeveloped plot of land, which
ownership El-Rufai revoked in 2006, in a manner that was not only
befuddling, but challenged logic and common sense.Acquired in 1992, the plot of land (Re: Certificate of Occupancy NO. FCT/ABU/AN: 2233), which is located at 272 Utako District, Cadastral Zone B5, according to available documents Saturday Sun chanced into, was paid for after due diligence, when the late foremost writer was federal director of Information and later, chairman of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
As if the former minister was executing a personal agenda against the revered author, Saturday Sun gathered that in one of El-Rufai’s revalidation exercises at which the late story teller’s physical presence was required, but he could not do so, owing to his failing health then, his only property in Abuja, which he had laboured upon was ceded to a new owner, in the face of available records with the ex-minister.
In an emotional and heartrending letter dated July 17, 2006, to El-Rufai and entitled “Revocation of my plot No. 272 Utako District Cadastral Zone B5(Re: Certificate of Occupancy No. FCT/ABU/AN:2233), following the revocation, Ekwensi, while appealing for El-Rufai’s intervention wrote: “I write to seek your gracious intervention in the supposed revocation of the only plot of land I have in Abuja.
The details of the matter are as follows:
As a former Federal Director of Information and then Chairman of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, I was allocated a plot of land in 1992 for which I paid all the required charges. I was issued a Certificate of Occupancy NO. FCT/ABU/AN:2233 on August 2, 2000.
I had been grievously ill since then and had been in and out of hospital both at home and abroad, as my good friend, President Obasanjo, who graciously assisted me can attest.
Some days ago, I sent emissaries to inspect the land and also contact the Abuja Geographical Information System (AGIS) and they came back with words that the allocation has been revoked and the land given to someone else. At the age of 85, I had to travel down from Enugu to see you on this matter.
My children who would have taken up the matter were abroad. Two of them, George and Ike, recently came home and have accompanied me on this trip to see you.
The land is the only property I have in Abuja after serving this great nation in various capacities before and since independence.
Presently, there is no development in the land. Even if it has been re-allocated, the new allotee can be given another place while my original property is reverted to me.
I am ready to pay whatever charges and fees required to reclaim the said plot of land.
I attach herewith, for your kind perusal, relevant documents to substantiate my points in 1 to 7 above.
I should be grateful if you would kindly intervene, please”, the letter read.
During Ekwensi’s visit with his two children to El-Rufai, Saturday Sun gathered that the late novelist who was too ill to climb the flights of stairs leading to the minister’s office had to be received on the ground floor, with assurances that the revocation would be rescinded.
He was particularly impressed that the minister could come down to receive him and was further enamored by the reverence in the minister’s tone, as he referred to him as ‘Daddy’ at some point in their conversation.
But all the reverence seemed to have ended with the departure of the author of the famous Jagua Nana. Everything returned to status quo, as the ministerial guarantee and assurances soon proved to be feeble and half-hearted as it was given.
Nothing concrete was done to reverse the action, prompting Ekwensi, almost a year later to engage in another correspondence with El-Rufai on the matter.
With extreme unwillingness, following the minister’s inaction and dead silence after his visitation, Ekwensi, in a follow-up letter dated May 21, 2007, entitled “Your promise to rescind the revocation of my plot”, reminded:
“I write with extreme reluctance, having struggled with a cocktail of emotions since I last managed to come physically to Abuja to see you over the revocation of my only plot in Abuja.
You did promise to do something within two weeks. I sent Mr. Wole Olaoye as agreed to monitor developments and report back to me. He has not made any headway because he was consistently told that there had been no instruction from you to the effect that the revocation order on my plot be rescinded or that I be allocated another plot in compensation. Those were the alternatives you proffered at our meeting.
I know that ministers are busy people. But I also know that they don’t give their words lightly. I recall that you even promised to grace the occasion of my 85th birthday, but the invitation card sent to your office was not even acknowledged. It is now nearly midnight in the life of this administration. I thought that maybe I should, at least, make one last ditch effort to reach you so as to fulfill all righteousness. That is why I have taken the liberty to interrupt your busy schedule.
I should appreciate the fulfillment of your promise on this matter. Failing which you can rest assured that I would not have the energy and the opportunity to further disturb you over the matter. Please accept my very warm regards and best wishes.”
If Ekwensi was under any illusion that ministers held their words sacred, Minister El-Rufai proved him wrong as he remained dodgy and consistently vacillated on the issue until he expired with Obasanjo’s administration.
Consistent with politicians for double-speak, El-Rufai’s promise was broken to Ekwensi’s face, regardless of the novelist already in the evening of his life and his contribution to Nigeria’s narrative.
While no alternative was offered or the revocation order rescinded before his passage last year, even after his last ditch effort, concerns have variously been expressed as to whether Ekwensi rightly deserved the treatment he got from El-Rufai, denying him the only property situated in the federal capital that would have served to preserve his memory.
True to his last letter, the energy and opportunity to further disturb El-Rufai died with Ekwensi, just as the property he duly paid for was denied him, either because of his name or the art with which he made his name.
Perhaps this explains why the post-humus award of the Member of Federal Republic was overshadowed by protestations from the Nidgbo, a pan-Igbo social-cultural organization, describing as a mockery of Ekwensi’s essence.
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