Owner of demolished Abuja duplex dares Wike, vows to commit him to prison

An Abuja developer, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Kamba, has vowed to commit the FCT minister, Barr Nyesom Wike to prison and sue the Director of the Development Control for exceeding the scope of his powers.

Earlier in the week, the Federal Capital Development Authority had demolished a duplex under construction at Plot 226, Cotonou Street, Wuse Zone 6, claimed to be owned by one Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Kamba, citing it was sitting on someone else’s land without valid title.

But in a press statement signed by his counsel, Okechukwu C. Uju-Azorji, the developer said they would take contempt proceedings against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory for abuse of the processes of the FCT High Court.

He insisted that the plot in contention belonged to the predecessor in title of their client, who had built a guest house (popularly called “Boys’ Quarters”) on the plot where he was collecting rent for upwards of 25 years before selling and handing over possession to the client in 2019.

 “Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Kamba in turn bought the property during the lifetime of the original allottee, Oyebade Lipede.

 “When our client commenced the development of the plot including the renovation of the existing guest house, a certain Abuja based legal practitioner took out a Direct Criminal Complaint against our client at the Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja for trespass, claiming that the property belonged to Oyebade Lipede, the late Alake of Egbaland. The suit was dismissed on 1/9/2020 with the Grade 1 Area Court Judge specifically urging the parties to refer the matter to FCT High Court since it has become issue of title to land.

 ‘’Rather than bring an action in court for declaration of title to the land, the said Abuja based legal practitioner was busy approaching different segments of the Federal Capital Territory Administration where it has become obvious that he enjoyed the cooperation of some persons, who unfortunately bought into his narrative that the plot belonged to the late Alake of Egbaland.”

The statement added that they would join the Director of Development Control of the FCTA to the pending suit for abuse of office.