FCDA pulls down Nzeribe’s building

It was learnt that one Ishaya Baba was contesting for the plot with Nzeribe and has sued for trespass and is seeking the removal of the structure already put up on the plot.

Findings revealed that the complainant, just like the plaintiff, was claiming the rightful ownership of the plot with a certificate of occupancy believed to have been obtained from the Abuja Geographical Information Service (AGIS).

The building was situated at plot 1306, Maitama Extension, Cadastral Zone AO51. Construction work was still going on at the site when the building was pulled down by the FCDA demolition squad.

Sunday Trust gathered that as at the time of the demolition of the structure, there was a court injunction restraining the authority from pulling down the structure until the matter was otherwise decided. According to Charles Ndukwe, counsel to Nzeribe, “people from FCDA came and pulled down the building. We have been in court since July 2009. On the 23rd July, there was an interim order by Justice S.B Belgore of the federal high court Zuba, and then on the 30th July, this order was extended and meant to last until the motion on notice interlocutory injunction is heard and determined. And that motion on notice has been heard in October and ruling was delivered on the 4th November and that ruling restrained the FCDA from destroying or interfering with the plaintiff in the exercise of his rights with respect to the building. The order also prevents FCDA from pulling down the structure until the substantive suit is determined. So I was surprised this morning when one of the workers called me that FCDA are on the site trying to destroy and before I could arrive at the site, they had destroyed the structure.  The implication of this is obvious. We are in the rule of law era. The pending suit is before the court and while the suit was pending, FCDA who is a principal party in the suit, took the laws into their hands and did that which the law does not permit them to do. That is obvious contempt. We will proceed to the same court on Monday to begin contempt proceedings against the director of development control because the man has made it clear, even from the day we went to court that until he pulls down this building, he won’t rest. So I don’t know if this is a personal affair of the director or whether he is no longer heading an institution.  The level of lawlessness in this case is manifest. FCDA is a principal party in this case. Since the first order, this is about the third attempt made by the director to pull down the building. At each point we have always confronted him with the interim injunction. Exactly a week ago, I did a letter to the director of development control and I copied FCDA reminding him of the subsisting court order that the motion on notice cannot be dispensed with. The principal defendants are FCDA and one Ishaya Baba on the property.

While decrying the action of the FCDA as lawless and unfortunate, Mrs Nzeribe explained that “This land as you can see was bought as far back as 2004/5 from FCDA. At the time we bought it, the land was swampy; we had to spend a lot of money to get it cleared. We created a pathway to the land and channelled the water away from the land. By 2008, we started developing. Before we started building, we were given a letter which empowered us to build. So we started. All of a sudden, we got a letter from FCDA telling us that the land is a double allocation, so after enquires from FCDA, a certain Ishaya Baba surfaced and he also showed his documents. But the question is: can AGIS certify a plot of land twice?”

At a stage, they asked us to stop work and after we have clarified with them, we were asked to start and we started again. There are a lot of racketeering in this FCDA and AGIS.  We have court injunction empowering us to work without disturbance. I am surprised that even in this rule of law era; people still find it easy to violate court orders at will.”

When contacted, the legal counsel to the FCDA, Barrister Felix Obiamalu expressed ignorance on the demolition of the property. According to him, “I am not aware of any such demolition exercise by the FCDA, I don’t work on Saturdays, so there is no way I can be aware of such action”.

Also, when contacted on phone, Engineer, Yahaya, director, Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, denied any knowledge of a subsisting court order restraining the FCDA from demolishing the property. In his words, ‘I am not aware of any court order restraining the FCDA from demolishing the property. The only court order I know of is the one that was dated August 3rd and it expired on the 29th of September 2009.”