The battle between present First Lady,
Patience Jonathan and her predecessor, Turai Yar’Adua seems to have come to a
head as, this afternoon, Justice Peter Affren of the Abuja High Court set aside
the revocation of land by the FCT administration of measuring about 1.84
hectares allocated to the latter’s non governmental organization, Women and
Youth Empowerment Foundation (WAYEF).
According to PM News:
The
court held that the claims by the FCT Minister that the land was revoked on an
overriding public interest was not supported by any shred of evidence before
the court. It further held that the initial letter of offer issued Turai’s
organization by the Minister remains valid and subsisting.
“The
defendants failed woefully to adduce any shred of evidence before this court to
support their claims that the allocation of the land was revoked on overriding
public interest. There is no overriding public interest in this issue. The
allocation made to the plaintiff who is a vocational training centre was in
public interest and in line with section 28 (1) of Land Use Act”
The
court faulted the FCT Minister’s exercise of his powers in revoking the plot of
land allocated to Turai’s organization, noting that the exercise of that power
to revoke allocation of land must come within the confines of the law.
Delivery
of the court’s judgment was adjourned by the court several times to enable Mrs.
Jonathan and Hajia Turai Yar’Adua reach a negotiated settlement but all to no
avail.
The
disputed land, plot no. 1347 Cadastral Zone AOO, Central Business District,
Abuja, FCT, was initially allocated to Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation,
WAYEF, while Mrs. Yar’adua was First Lady, but the FCT Minister, Mr. Bala
Mohammed, revoked the allocation for what he described as “overriding public
interest” and re-allocated it to Mrs. Jonathan for the building of African
First Lady Peace Mission Headquarters on 2nd of November, 2011.
Mrs.
Yar’Adua complained that the land allocated to WAYEF on 19 February 2010 was
being trespassed upon by Mrs. Jonathan and got a court order dated in 2012
restraining the First Lady from affecting WAYEF title and interest over the
land.
Those
joined as co-defendants in the suit are the FCT Minister, the Abuja Geographic
Information System, AGIS and the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF.
Turai,
on behalf of her organisation, WAYEF, is asking for N1.5 billion as general
damages, N100 Million as exemplary damages, N100 Million as aggravated damages
in addition to N261 Million already paid for Certificate of Occupancy as well
as N454 Million paid for building designs.
WAYEF’s
lawyer, Mr. Adamu Ahmed Ibrahim, observed that while it appears that the
Ministry of Justice may be interested and committed to a settlement, their
terms and what they offer says otherwise.
According
to the lawyer, the land being offered by the FCTA was a much smaller parcel of
land than the one purportedly acquired from WAYEF for Mrs. Jonathan.
As
part of the moves to get a negotiated settlement, the Federal Capital Territory
Administration had offered WAYEF Plot. 1838 Cadastral Zone AOO Abuja measuring
6119.29 square meters as replacement plot. While another plot 1839 was also
proposed to be in favour of the African First Lady Mission, measuring 6100.51
square meters
The
said Plot nos 1838 and 1839 are subdivided from plot 700 CBD Cadastral Zone AOO,
Abuja.
The
court however did not grant Turai’s demand for monetary damages.
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