ATTEMPTS by the country's First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan to take over a piece of land in Abuja from her predecessor, Hajiya Turai Yar'Adua, Thursday failed as an Abuja High Court resolved the protracted land dispute in the latter's favour by setting aside the revocation of the said plot situated at Cadastral Zone by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed.
The court held that the purported revocation of the plot of land measuring about 1.84 hectares allocated to a non-governmental organisation, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, (WAYEF) owned by Hajiya Yar'Adua, by the FCT administration, was illegal and unlawful.
Specifically, the court held that the purported revocation violated the provisions of Section 26 [1] of the Land Use Act.
However, the Head of the legal unit of the FCT Administration, Mrs. Ima Akpongete, said the FCT would appeal the decision because it was dissatisfied with the judgment.
Delivering his judgment after several unsuccessful attempts by the parties to settle the matter out of court, Justice Peter Affen rejected claims by the FCT Minister that the land was revoked on the ground of "overriding public", saying that there was no shred of evidence before the court to support it.
Justice Affen held that the initial letter of offer issued Turai's organisation by the Minister remained valid and subsisting.
"The defendants failed woefully to adduce any shred of evidence before this court to support their claims that the allocation of the land was revoked on overriding public interest. There is no overriding public interest in this issue. The allocation made to the plaintiff who is a vocational training centre was in public interest and in line with Section 28 (1) of Land Use Act."
The judge who picked holes in the FCT Minister's decision to revoke the plot of land allocated to Turai's organisation held that the exercise of that power to revoke allocation of land must come within the confines of the law.
But he refused Turai's demand for monetary damages from the plaintiffs.
Specifically, the Registered Trustees of WAYEF had applied and was granted an allocation of plot 1347 Cadastral Zone after paying the sum of N184,529,438 as statutory Right of Occupancy which was duly issued by the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Under the terms of grant, the plaintiff was given three years to develop the property based on approved building plans. After the payments of the various levies, the plaintiff paid additional sum of N76,936,210.00 as building plans fees after which the grant and approval of the building plans were made and given in line with the master plan for Abuja.
Thereafter, the plaintiff appointed and mobilised a building company, Al-Cooks Nigeria Limited to site to develop the property for the sum of N13, 516,013,797.58.
On November 1,2011, the Federal Capital Territory Administration sent an additional bill of N18, 529,438 being the balance of the various charges under the grant, which the plaintiff paid the next day.
Shortly after these transactions, the Minister of the FCT without reasons issued a notice of revocation of the said property, which it allocated to the plaintiff for the purpose of building public institution (Training/Vocational Centre). The said letter of revocation was backdated with effect from October 27, 2011.
Immediately after the revocation letter was issued, the FCT Minister, Bala Muhammed swiftly re-allocated the plot to another organisation, African First Ladies Peace Centre, to which by the current First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, is believed to be a sponsor.
It was at this stage that Hajiya Yar'Adua's organisation went to court to challenge the actions of the minister with respect to the revocation letter.
She complained that Dame Jonathan was trespassing on the land allocated to her NGO-WAYEF on February 19, 2010 and got a court order dated in 2012, restraining the First Lady from affecting WAYEF title and interest over the land.
She joined as co-defendants in the suit, the FCT Minister, the Abuja Geographic Information System, AGIS and the Attorney General of the Federation.
WAYEF asked for N1.5 billion as general damages, N100 million as exemplary damages, N100 million as aggravated damages in addition to N261 million already paid for Certificate of Occupancy as well as N454 million paid for building designs.
WAYEF's lawyer, Mr. Adamu Ahmed Ibrahim, observed that while it appears that the Ministry of Justice may be interested and committed to a settlement, their terms and what they offer say otherwise.
According to the lawyer, the land being offered by the FCTA was a much smaller parcel of land than the one purportedly acquired from WAYEF for Mrs. Jonathan.
Specifically, four separate plots of land were offered to Yar'Adua's NGO to choose from. The first plot No.818 measuring 5333 square meters is located at the central area close to Akwa Ibom House; the second plot No. 3367 is along Airport Road, Wawa district, measuring 2.1 hectares; the third was a plot within the vicinity of the National Mosque; while the fourth is plot, No.1838 located at Cadastral Zone A00, measuring 6119.29m2 as replacements for the disputed plot of land.
In rejecting the offer, it was learnt that the legal representatives of WAYE, from the law firm of Adamu, Ahmed, Ibrahim & Co. noted that while the first plot is within a green area, the second plot of land falls within an un-approved layout of the city, the third has large number of pipes buried underneath and would not carry a high capacity building, while the fourth is rather too small compare to the original plot.
Specifically, the fourth offer was made on April 12, 2013 via a letter addressed to the law Firm by Felix Ibanga of the Legal Services, Secretariat, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA).
The letter with the title: Offer of plot No. 1838 Cadastral Zone A00 Central Area, Abuja measuring 6119.29m2 for settlement of Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/324/2011 out of Court and obtained by Daily Sun reads: "You will recall that on the March 5, 2013 a meeting was held at the office of the Honourable Minister of the FCT for the resolution of the above mentioned suit out of court.
At the said meeting which was attended by the General counsel/Sec. Legal FCT, the Director of Litigation, LSS, Felix Ibanga, LSS, Barr. Innocent Lagi who represented your Chambers, the Honourable Minister of the FCT expressed his desire and willingness to resolve this matter amicably out of court.
Based on the foregoing, we have the Honourable Minister's instruction to offer your client who is the plaintiff in the above-mentioned suit plot No. 1838 Cadastral Zone A00 Central Area, Abuja measuring 6119.29m2 as a replacement plot for Plot No. 1347 Cadastral Zone A00 Central Area, Abuja the subject matter of suit FCT/HC/324/2011.
Your prompt response to our offer will be appreciated to enable the Administration take necessary steps to perfect your client's title in the new plot of land."
But in rejecting the offer, Yar'Adua's lawyer noted that the terms and contents of the offer did not express the commitment to settle the matter out of court.
It is the position of the law firm that the essence of a settlement is to enable the parties engage in such a process that will obtain some measure of satisfaction of their claims. "This appears not the basis on which the offer is made, having carefully considered the following: • In spite of your admitted knowledge of an interlocutory injunction restraining you and anybody whatsoever called from interfering with our clients, title and interest over and above plot 1347 Cadastral Zone A00 within the Central Area, Abuja, you are continuing with your contempt of a valid court order by continuing building on the plot of land.
• That your offer of a much smaller parcel of land or none within an un-approved layout, did not take into consideration the interest of our client and its readiness to continue development before your actions.
• The fact that your action has stalled and is continuing to stall the attainment of empowerment for women and youth in Nigeria, etc.
"For the following reasons we are unable to accept your proposal for a settlement as it is incapable of replacing or compensating the objectives of WAYEF as enshrined on the Registered Trustees.
The law firm said with the development, it was no longer interested in the out of court settlement since the authorities have not shown any form of sincerity committed for the settlement to sail through.
Beyond, the offer of alternative plots of land, the law firm said the authorities have not mentioned the issue of monetary compensation, which runs into billions of naira.
However, it has however offered to waive the cost of litigation and inconveniences and withdraw the contempt proceedings if the authorities immediately retract from their actions and reverse its decision and allow it to resume work at the site.
The Guardian