By Bode Olagoke
Over 1,000 landowners of Zaudan and Filindabo layouts at Dei-dei district of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja has dragged the FCT Minister, Senator Bala Mohammed to court over what they called unjust attempts by the FCT authority to claim their land which was allocated to them between 1998 and 1999 by the FCT authority.
The plaintiffs, Elder Friday Ugoala, Barr Chioke Ephraim and Mr. Edwin Ike, representing the landowners who are members of Zaudan Pazeri Property Owners Association are praying the court to declare that their allocation to the agents of the defendant (FCT Minister), privies or any person claiming through the defendant, is unlawful, illegal, void and of no effect.
The land owners also begging court to direct the defendant (FCT Minister) to reinstate the plaintiffs and all their members to their plots of land lying and situated within Zaudan and Filindabo layouts in the FCT and that an order of injunction restraining the defendant, his agents, privies or assign from dealing with any person or persons in respect of the plaintiffs land, except persons authorized by the plaintiffs or their members.
Elder Friday Ugoala, chairman of Zaudan Pazeri Property Owners Association, who is also one of the plaintiffs, said that they decided to take the matter to court, because, they have made several efforts and written many letters to the authority of the FCT, without any response from them, and that they have waited patiently for over one year, without anything forth coming for the FCTA.
“Then the community involved decided that we should seek legal redress, instead of waiting to be caught unaware. We are asking the court to give order that our allocation should remain and to declare that any other allocation made on top of our own should be declared none and void, and of no effect. Sincerely speaking, we have confidence in the judiciary and we trust that the court will give us justice,” he said.
Barr. Chioke Ephraim, one of the plaintiff said that he believed that if there is an allocation, the position of the law is that before that particular property that is allocated to somebody is taken over from the person, the person that allocated it, may have said he wants to withdraw the allocation he made to the occupant, but that before he could do that, it must be for public interest.
Counsel to the Plaintiffs, Barr. Nwoke Kalu, said the hearing of the suit which was supposed to commence on October 20, 2014, could not hold, because, the legal counsel representing FCTA, Barr. Ezekiel Ituma, filed a memorandum of condition of appearance, but he has not filed his statement of defence, so he asked the court for an adjournment to enable them file the defence for the suit and Justice A. A. I. Banjoko of the High Court of the FCT, adjourned the case to January 20, 2015 for hearing.
