Wike allays fears of property owners at River Park Estate

The FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has allayed the fears of property owners in the controversial River Park Estate, stating that the FCT Administration does not have any plans to take away their property. Wike, while addressing journalists on Saturday, after a tour of parts of the estate where illegal structures were recently removed by […]

The FCT Minister, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, has allayed the fears of property owners in the controversial River Park Estate, stating that the FCT Administration does not have any plans to take away their property.

Wike, while addressing journalists on Saturday, after a tour of parts of the estate where illegal structures were recently removed by the FCT Department of Development Control, said it was not the intention of the Administration to seize people’s property; rather, it wants property owners to do the right thing.

Explaining River Park Estate’s peculiar case, the Minister said, “I got a petition from SIMS Senior Advocate, a lawyer to a company called Jonah AD, which I came to know is a Ghanaian company. That company had a lease agreement with the FCT Administration more than 20 years ago. Then, from what we know, that company now had a power of attorney to a third party called Paulo Homes. Paulo Homes has no business with the FCT. Let it be on record. Only the Ghanaian company has business with us.

“Unfortunately, that lease agreement has expired. Apart from that, entering into an agreement with a third party is a contravention of one of the clauses of the lease agreement. To avoid affecting a lot of Nigerians who may have inadvertently obtained and built houses, we decided that we will give them back Certificates of Occupancy (C of O), to say that they were directly allocated land by the FCT Administration.

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“So, all these cries that they (FCTA) want to take their property are neither here nor there. That is not the intention of the FCTA.”