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The legal battle over the rights to the land referred to as the Berger Park, located in the Wuse Zone 6 Area of the Federal Capital Territory, may not be ending anytime soon as parties in the tussle are insisting on their claims on the vast area.
The park located beside the popular Berger Junction has been in contention since the tenure of Gen. Jeremiah Useni Rtd, as minister to Nasir El-Rufai and Muhammad Musa Bello tenure.
History of allocations
The area was initially allocated to the Nigerian Army Officers Wives Association, NAOWA, before it was later converted to a recreational park, and then reallocated to the Nigerian Police Force in 2019 for the construction of a police barracks.
Residents of the neighbourhood are accusing the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, of distorting the Abuja Master Plan by giving approval to the Nigerian Police Force Property and Construction Company Ltd to construct residential apartments on the plot.
Some landlords and tenants in the neighbourhood filed a suit against the FCT minister, FCTA, the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, and two others, accusing them of rebuilding the area designed for parks and recreation center, thereby altering the Master Plan and exposing the area to flooding.
Court case
An Abuja High Court on 29th, September, 2023, restrained the above mentioned defendants, including the Nigerian Police Force Property and Construction Company Ltd and Brains and Hammers Ltd, from altering, reconstructing or rebuilding the area for any other use except as designated by the Abuja Master Plan, pending the hearing and determination of suit.
When the matter came up in court, the trial judge, Justice Njideka Nwosu-Iheme, gave an interim order after an oral application to that effect by Mr. James Onyilo, counsel representing Hon. Haruna Saidu, Dr. Itonye Efebo, Sunday Uche, Moses Osiboh and Shehu Abba, who are listed as first to fifth plaintiffs in the suit dated June 20, 2023.
Counsel to the plaintiffs informed the court that “the subject matter in this case, which is the building being erected by the Nigerian Police Force Property and Construction Company and Brains and Hammers Ltd (4th and 5th Defendants) is causing flood and erosion in the area because of the raining season”, Onyilo told the Judge.
He added that, the area is a public recreation park which the 4th and 5th defendants are erecting building and prayed the court for an order directing parties in the suit to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
The matter was adjourned to October 30.
FCTA kicks
Sources within the FCT Administration are, however, confident that the case will be thrown out for lack of merit as they insist the contentious area is designated in the Phase One Abuja Land Use Plan, as a high density development area.
The sources, who preferred not to be mentioned since the case was in court, maintained that though the area had served as a neighbourhood park in the past, there was still no distortion of the master plan in the area, as the land use still remained as planned.
One of the sources, pointed out that the area was meant for high density residential area which is what the developers are currently constructing on the plot.
He said the construction of housing estate in the area was in line with the master plan.
“I think maybe the minister in his own wisdom must have done it in the spirit of restoration of the Abuja master plan, let the place be developed as planned in line with the provision of the plan. There is no distortion there. It must have been developed as a park, but the land still remains as planned.”
Flood claims
On the claims that the ongoing construction could lead to flooding and erosion, he said, “I don’t want to talk about anything as regard to the nature of the soil or the topography. Because I request you as journalist to go and see whether there is any swamp there. Yes there may be storm channel or drainage channel that conveys water, but with proper engineering, what is wrong in you doing what is right to get the plot developed? The good thing is that, because the plan was done perfectly well, you could see opposite this side, that here is a green areas which still stands as a park.”
Giving a rundown of the status of the area, our source stated that, “During Julie Useni (late wife of then minister) time, she organized a trade fair there. Thereafter, there was no activity and the place became like a market square and a den for criminals. But when El Rufia came, he sanitized the place and put it into a park. It has been like that until after some time due to lack of maintenance, when the former minister Muhammad Bello came in 2019, or there about, he allocated the plot to the Nigeria Police for the development of a police barracks.
“The police approached the Department of Development Control and the other departments for grant of approval before commencement of development. The department of development control consulted other relevant departments such as Urban and Regional planing, Parks and Recreation, Engineering Services who all made inputs.
“We needed to confirm from other department, the expected development there, based on Abuja master plan as prepared by SF Consultant. Because that was the first plan that heralded the Abuja City Development.”
