439 Shop Owners Sue FCT Minister, IGP

439 residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have sued the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the Inspector-General of Police over alleged forcible ejection from their shops.

According to BLUEPRINT, the complainants who are 439 are also suing the Federal Capital Development  Authority (FCDA), Abuja Markets Management Limited, Urban Shelter Limited, and Obinna Okolie, for throwing them out of their shops at the popular Area 7 Shopping Complex in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Ahmed Suleiman and four others are suing the respondents on behalf of their co-tenants in a suit marked CV/2734/2021. Information Guide Nigeria

BLUEPRINT reports that in an impassioned letter to the minister of FCT,  Muhammad Bello, the traders who are mostly low-income earners called on the minister to immediately stop the ongoing construction work at the disputed property.

Read Other Top News:

• WORLD PREMATURITY DAY: “Act Now! Keep Parents and Babies Born Too Soon Together“
• Autopsy On OAU Student Killed In Suspected Ritual Takes Place Today
• IMF Advises FG To Remove Fuel, Electricity Subsidies
• Makinde To Pay Osun Another N1b Over LAUTECH- Chairman Of LAUTECH

On behalf of the 439 complainants, Chukwuma-Umachukwu Ume, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said in the letter dated November 19, 2021that they had been at the property since 1992; “duly paying rents and service charges up to date.”

“That your 439 tenants/occupiers are low-income earners is not a reason to treat them like animals … ignoring respect for the rule of law and the dignity of the court.”

BLUEPRINT reports that they urged the FCT minister to look beyond the “inordinate selfish interest of private investors whose ongoing construction work is a big insult to the court. Minister must stop ongoing work “.

According to the letter, quoting a decision of the Court of Appeal in Okeke-Oba Vs Okoye (1994), the appellate court held, “The general practice is that on application for an order for interlocutory injunction, all activities affecting the res (subject matter), here the land dispute, are automatically terminated as mark of respect to the court before whom the application is pending.”

“By reason of the foregoing, we implore your Honourable Minister to use your good office to ensure that the right thing is done; that is, the construction work presently ongoing at the Area 7 Shopping Complex be made to stop forthwith pending the determination of the suit”.

The shop owners noted that failure to stop the construction, would trigger contempt proceedings against the minister and other defendants involved in the “distasteful disrespect to the court, for contempt and accordingly, cause Forms 48 and 49 to be issued and served.”

In a report filed by BLUEPRINT, the tenants said that trouble began when the Abuja Investment Company Limited (4th defendant), from nowhere surfaced with a controversial and illegal 3month remodelling plan of the Area 7 Shopping Complex, issuing the 439 claimants notices of purportedly terminating the tenancy relationship between them and the FCDA.

However, the aggrieved tenants argued that in a civil case, the Abuja Investment Company Limited has no “locus” (right), but brought in the police and “connived with the Urban Shelter Limited and one Obinna Okolie to promote private and selfish interests” above the interest of the public.

BLUEPRINT reports that that the court documents stated: “resorted to illegal use of the police to threaten, coerce and deceive the claimants into signing the said lease, stating that they will lose their shops should they fail to sign the said lease agreement.”

“The Abuja Investment Company Limited and its partners are bent on going ahead with their plans to demolish the shops of the claimants.”

BLUEPRINT reports that the claimants are urging the court to declare that they are entitled to peaceful and quiet occupancy of their 439 shops at the Area 7 Shopping Complex in Abuja.

“A declaration that the threat of destruction, incessant harassment and unlawful interference with the said shops of the claimants by the defendants constitute acts of trespass as none is the landlord the claimants had the owner-occupier tenancy arrangement with. Jamb Result

“An order directing the defendants to pay the claimants the sum of N50 million as damages for the harassment, molestation, injury to their businesses, mental torture, and psychological trauma as a result of the unruly conducts of the 4th and 7th defendants.”

Check and Confirm: How much is Dollar to Naira Today       Pounds to Naira Today 

📢 We are hiring writers!