**Call Wike to order, Lawyer tells NBA
By Our Reporter
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has continued on his demolition spree in Abuja as a combined team of the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Development Control department of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) stormed to demolish an 11,000 square meters property that is worth over N3bn in Abuja
This is coming few weeks after another estate worth of N10 billion, and belonging to Anambra state chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Nicholas Ukachukwu by the same task force on the orders of the FCT minister.
The taskforce sent to demolish the estate situated at Maitama Hills , Mpabe in Bwari Area Council of the FCT refused journalists to have access to the estate, saying it was directives from FCT not to allow anybody to have access to the demolition site
However speaking to journalists, at the site after all efforts to see the demolition was rejected by the taskforce, the manager of the estate that was still under construction, Eze Innocent Okpara, regretted that the site was being demolished despite an ongoing court proceeding and order on stay if execution by both sides contending ownership of the property
He said, “This is our estate, we started developing it around 2019 and already the structures on ground were 3 units completed and 4 units decked, we have 3 units that we are still decking and then the DpC for the plaza completed.
“I am surprised that the structure is being demolished.
“It is Woodcrest Estate and they have refused us entrance. We wanted to see what they were actually doing but they wouldn’t allow us to see what is happening but from what I am seeing from here the structure we completed is on ground. They have demolished it, the carcasses everything is down and they will not allow us to remove anything. We have household materials we have chairs inside one of the unit.”
“The estate is 11000square meters in Mpape 2, Maitama Hills.
Asked if there was any court case on the property, Okpara said, “Yes, there was a court case before this demolition. They came to mark the structure sometimes back, we refered them to our Lawyer that whatever they needed are pasted on the wall and the case is still on and to our greatest surprise they are coming for demolition today.”
On who instituted the case, the manager said, “One Majin. He is in contention with my boss over the land.
Also expressing his anger over what he described as lack of respect for court orders by the FCT minister, the lawyer incharge of the property, Tony Ogbulafor
called on the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) to call the Minister of FCT to order, stressing that as a lawyer as he claims to be, the Minister should not be indulging in ridiculing the judiciary.
According to him, ‘Hon. Justice A.S. Adepoju Court No.13, Gwagwalada Judicial Division had ruled on October 18, 2023 that the status quo should remain.”
Ogbulafor, who spoke to journalist at the demolition site said, “We pasted the approval of the building plan on the wall, for them to see that something like that is there
“I am the Lawyer to the owners of the estate
“I got a call from the Managing director of Toub Associate, it was alleged that some demolition was going on and he called me to the estate to see what was going on. On getting here policemen and NSCDC men over 100 blocked us from entry saying they are a joint tax force they don’t allow anybody to come close that we can only come in when the demolition is completed. Because they are wielding gun we have to pipe low.”
Asked if there was any case in court, he said, “One Majin Nigeria Limited took Toub Associates, the minister of FCT and FG to court alleging ownership of the land and we are in court, the court ordered that nobody should do anything on the land until the case is determined before we got this morning. Along the line we have provided all the documents for the land, the allocation letters and everything to show the ownership of the land. And that has not been controverted even by Majin.”
“Court 13 Gwagwalada gave the order presided over by Justice Adepoju.since the order was given did your client work on the land, “Base on the order of the Court which said we should not do anything that is why we stopped if not we would have completed the estate but the court order said we should stop, pending the determination of the matter and we were holding action. We only have staff who are overseeing the things that are there, they are not doing any development. Some have been developed, others are under development. We expected the minister, FCDA and Majin to obey the order, I can not say Majin is involved because the police said it is Minister that sent them.
“Not everybody who calls himself a lawyer that is a lawyer. We have people that did evening law, evening law is not a proper law because he went through the school but the school did not go through him. Even as a lawyer I don’t know whether he operated any chambers or worked in any chamber so he is only a lawyer by name and NBA and all other lawyers should call him to order because he is busy destroying the image of judiciary he claimed to belong to, he is a disgrace to the profession.”
“We will go back to the Court to tell the court that irrespective of the court order the Minister has gone ahead to demolish the property. We are going to sue the Minister for the cost of what he has destroyed running to over N3bn. He must pay our bills and restore us because what he has done is totally illegal and an affront on our judicial system and it is not acceptable.”
Ogbulafor also reported that the manager alleged that the taskforce team after demolishing, looted somethings from the demolished buildings.
