After many years of tussle over the ownership of River Park Estate in Abuja, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has waded into the controversy and affirmed the Ghanaian investor, JonahCapital, as the original owners of the estate.

The declaration may put an end to the lingering feud over the ownership of the sprawling estate in Lugbe, along the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport road in Abuja, which has continued to put fears into the minds of homeowners in the estate. 

Speaking on Channels TV’s Political Platform on Thursday night, Wike said the FCT signed an agreement with JonahCapital Nigeria Ltd, promoted by Sir. Samuel Esson Jonah to develop the estate on Plot 4 Cadastral, Zone E30 Lugbe, Abuja, during the tenure of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

Tracing the origin of the prolonged dispute over the estate, Wike said the original owner, Jonah, in turn brought in a third party (Paulo Homes) to help them obtain building approvals from FCT Development Control.

Wike said, “A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, S.I. Ameh, wrote a petition, and I set up a ministerial panel headed by a General Counsel who is like the Attorney General of other states, saying ‘go and look into this’,” he said.

“Their lawyers made presentations. Look, what happened is terrible. First of all, we don’t have any business with Paulo Homes; there is no business between the FCT and Paulo Homes, nothing! The only people we signed an agreement with are JonahCapital Ltd,” the minister said on the live broadcast on Channels television on Thursday night.

The minister noted that although JonahCapital breached the agreement with the FCT by bringing in Paulo Homes, which has continued to obtain C of O for buyers without a valid lease agreement, its development lease had expired by effluxion of time.

Wike said the FCT decided to demolish the properties hurriedly developed by Paulo Homes, withdraw all the Certificates of occupancy issued to the company on behalf of the unwary buyers, to give them directly to the Nigerian owners to protect them.

Providing details of the latest demolitions at River Park Estate, Wike said, “I know the system and how they operate. They will rush any matter to the court, and by the time you know, the minister is out, and when he leaves, another minister will come, and we will find it very difficult to settle.

“I told my people, let’s get everything down. This is why things are going wrong in this country. People want to do things the wrong way and get away with it. I will not allow it,” the minister vowed.

Wike also condemned the activities Head of the IGP Monitoring Unit,  headed by  Akin Fakorede, who recently conducted a press conference along with the immediate past Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, to confer ownership of the estate on Paulo Homes and file criminal charges against the original owners, Jonah Capital.