A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, restrained the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority (FCDA) from demolishing Trademore Estate sited in the Lugbe area of the capital city.
Justice Mohammed Zubairu in an interim injunction ordered 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”.
He also ordered that the parties maintain status quo, while the Motion on Notice and Writ of Summons be served on the Defendants forthwith as the case has now been adjourned to September 22, 2023, for a hearing of the Motion on Notice.
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.
They debunked insinuation that the estate has no development plan approval as they claimed the estate was developed in 2007 and no case of flooding was recorded until recently.
Last week, the residents shut their gates in protest against the planned demolition of structures in the estate by officials of FCDA as the development came days after the estate was declared a disaster zone, in light of flash floods that submerged houses and vehicles in the estate recently, a situation reoccurring at the peak of the rainy season annually.
The Permanent Secretary of the FCTA had declared the Trademore area a disaster zone. According to him, the area needs immediate action to remedy further damages and loss of lives and properties.
