A gaggle of buyers in Trinity Gardens, Abuja, has accused the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) of unfair therapy and the illegal demolition of their property.
They claimed that they complied with statutory laws and authorized obligations.
The buyers claimed that the realm, initially designated to protect greenery and keep Abuja’s ecosystem, was developed solely by means of non-public effort and private funding.
Chatting with journalists in Abuja, one of many co-investors, Mrs Jennifer Umeh, mentioned the group’s function in addressing the media was to “attraction to the conscience of Nigerians” and draw consideration to what they described as a deliberate try to dispossess them of their respectable funding.
“They’ve taken our supply of livelihood,” Umeh mentioned. “We’re authorized occupants of a chosen inexperienced space in Maitama, duly acknowledged by the Abuja Metropolitan Administration Council (AMMC) beneath a lease settlement executed in 2007.
“We rehabilitated the land when it was being eroded, stuffed it with sand, and planted each tree with our naked fingers. We now have paid all statutory dues, together with floor lease and different levies imposed by the AMMC. This 12 months alone, we paid ₦1,040,000 as demanded by the authorities.”
Umeh added that the buyers had complied with each directive from the FCT authorities, together with the current order by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to evaluation and regularise inexperienced space allocations.
She alleged that whereas they have been within the strategy of submitting their documentation for vetting, their land was reallocated to a newly integrated firm.
“The corporate, Abuja Metropolis Works Restricted, was integrated on June 18, 2025, with Maglinx Worldwide Restricted as its 100% shareholder. By July, a Proper of Occupancy (R of O) was issued over the very land we now have occupied and developed for 14 years,” she mentioned.
In line with Umeh, the plot initially measured 7,000 sq. meters, however the buyers presently occupy about 2,000 sq. meters. “It stays a inexperienced space, but they’ve transformed it to ‘combined use,’ which means it might now be used for something. That is towards Abuja’s grasp plan,” she added.
She lamented that the demolition had dealt a devastating blow to their technique of livelihood, disclosing that 68 graduates have been straight employed at Trinity Gardens earlier than the incident, along with a number of oblique employees.
One other investor and chief of the group, Mrs. Progress Okuk, maintained that the group had not violated any regulation or regulation, insisting that they had operated inside the authorized framework established by the FCT authorities.
“We now have not flouted any rule in any respect. This place was an environmental magnificence prior to now—each tree and flower right here was planted by us. Even diplomats used this area as a peaceable retreat,” Okuk mentioned.
She defined that the buyers had paid their floor lease in April and have been processing reallocation in June once they found that the property had already been awarded to the month-old firm.
“We now have invested closely right here, and we’re merely asking for justice,” she acknowledged.
Okuk appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Minister of the FCT, and related authorities to research the circumstances surrounding the demolition and the reallocation of their property.
“We’re law-abiding Nigerians attempting to make an sincere dwelling. What occurred to us is unjust. We hope the federal government will intervene to revive our rights and our technique of survival,” she added.
