By Joyce Remi-Babayeju
As a sequel to the demolition of some illegal structures in River Park Estate, Lugbe, 15 persons were arrested on Thursday and charged in court on Friday for carrying out defiant construction on some vacant lands at the estate.
Daybreak reports that FCTA on Wednesday had demolished 30 illegal structures at River Park Estate in Abuja for flouting building planning regulations and reverted the same back to the Administration after withdrawal of their lease agreement.
It was gathered that the suspects are working for the estate developer, one Mr. Paul Odili of Paulo Homes, who was later taken into custody by the Intelligence Response Team, (IRT), along with the arrested suspects, by enforcement officers at the site.
Chief Security Officer, CSO, to the FCT Minister, ACP Mohammed Iya, disclosed that the developer, Paul Odili has seveally threatened to attacked staff of the FCTA, and had vowed not to honour any invitations by the Administration .
According to lya, “The matter is still under investigation, but Mr. Paulo was later released on administrative bail, as he complained of having had major surgery. He is presently admitted at the National Hospital, Abuja.
However, the Director of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima,
confirmed the arrests, and assured that the suspects would be prosecuted in the court for violating ministerial directives.
“Even after being asked to leave the site and some excavations were covered, on Friday we got a report that they were busy working behind the shopping center. So we came this morning, saw the development, and again cleared the site. We also moved round the estate, marked several new sites, and cleared some of them. We will return on Monday to continue with the operation,” he said.
All vacant lands in the estate had been reverted to the FCTA following the expiration of the Development Lease Agreement and recommendations of a ministerial committee, but some developers have been working day and night to beat the directive, Galadima explained.
Also, Galadima had earlier warned that the administration would not tolerate further violations, stressing that prosecution would follow any fresh attempt to rebuild on the reverted plots.
“Over 30 foundations have been excavated, so we’re going to cover them all.”
Should there be an erection again, then there will be removal once more,” he said.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had on August 8, 2025, inaugurated an ad-hoc committee to oversee the review of controversies surrounding the River Park Estate.
The Barr. Salman Dako, led the committee while submitting its reports to the minister on September 2nd, explained that the revocation of the undeveloped plots was necessitated by the expiration and breach of the Development Lease Agreement ,(DLA) and the need to reassert administrative control over the affected plot in line with Clause 9.2 of the Development Lease Agreement, (DLA).
The committee, however, directed that holders of previous “customary” titles whose plots fall within the Riverpark Estate boundaries and who have developed in accordance with applicable planning and development control regulations “be permitted to retain their titles.”
A recommendation that aligns with the subsisting court judgment referenced in paragraph 16.3.
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