And Turai won! Please check follow link for more insight into story-http://rosepeter-jao.com/first-ladies-battle/
The Story.
Turai vs FCT Minister:Court set aside revocation of former first lady’s land allocation
Nigeria’s former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua on Thursday got a reprieve from the law courts as Justice Peter Affren of Abuja High Court set aside the revocation of allocation of Hajia Turai’s land by the FCT administration.
The piece of a land measuring about 1.84 hectares was allocated to Turai’s non governmental organization, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, WAYEF when Turai reigned as Nigeria’s first lady.
The court held that the claims by the FCT Minister that the land was revoked on an overriding public interest was not supported by any shred of evidence before the court.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woefully to adduce any shred of evidence before this court to support their claims that the allocation of the land was revoked on overriding public interest.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 Abuja high court faulted the FCT Minister’s exercise of his powers in revoking the plot of land allocated to Turai’s organization. He said the exercise of the power to revoke allocation of land must come within the confines of the law.
The plot of land in question, 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” on 2nd of November, 2011.
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, asked 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 to Hajia Turai in place of the one revoked was a much smaller parcel of land .
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.
The court did not grant Turai’s demand for monetary damages.
Head of the legal unit of the FCT Administration, Mrs. Ima Akpongete,in her reaction to the decision of the court said the FCT will appeal the decision. She said the minister exercised the power of his office in revoking the allocation in public interest.
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