A Federal High Court presided by Mohammed Zabairu in a temporary injunction has stopped the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA) from demolishing the Trademore Estate situated in the Lugbe area of Abuja
Justice Zubairu ordered that the first to fourth defendants/respondents to maintain the status quo and stop plans to demolish the estate. In Motion No: M/11692/2023 dated July 12, 2023, the first to fourth defendants/respondents are the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, the FCDA, Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
The judge granted an order “restraining the Defendants, whether by themselves, agents, employees, officials, privies, and all those purporting to be acting for them, or to have derived title from them, or other persons howsoever and whomsoever called from trespassing on or further trespassing on, demolishing, or further demolition of all that Trademore Estate Lugbe, Abuja, Known as Plot 1981, Sabon Lugbe, Abuja, and other appurtenances thereof at Lugbe, Abuja, with the buildings and appurtenances thereon, or from evicting the occupants of the said property from it, or in any way interfering with the Plaintiff’s exclusive right of ownership and possession of the said property pending the determination of the Motion on Notice”.
The judge barred the government from evicting the property’s residents or otherwise interfering with the plaintiff’s sole ownership and control of the land as long as the Motion on Notice is pending, In addition, Zubairu mandated that the parties maintain the status quo while the defendants are immediately served with the Motion on Notice and Writ of Summons.
The Judge thereafter adjourned the motion on notice for hearing to the 22nd of September,2023.
The residents of the estate had approached the court through their lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), after a petition to the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Olusade Adesola, protesting the planned demolition of more than 60 houses in the residential estate.
The residents debunked the insinuation that the estate has no approval for a development plan. They said the estate was developed in 2007, and had no case of flooding until recently.
The Permanent Secretary of the FCTA had declared the Trademore area a disaster zone that “needs immediate action to remedy further damages and loss of lives and properties”.
