Abuja property owner accuses FHA of illegal demolition, assault

A property owner has accused the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) of assault and illegally demolishing her property in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

The property owner, identified as Hajiya Sadiya, told journalists that Oyetunde Ojo, managing director of the FHA, sent two buses of armed police officers to demolish her property on Friday despite a pending court case on the land.

The property in contention is located along 52nd Road, 5th Avenue, Gwarinpa II Estate and belongs to Tolwu Integrated Properties Ltd.

Sadiya said she was beaten, dragged on the ground, and wounded in one of her arms allegedly by the police officers while attempting to stop the demolition of her property.

“The FHA team came to the site to destroy our fences without any court order or any other official document,” she said.

“When they came to the site, I rushed to the site with my lawyer. We asked the police officers to show any enforcement document or court paper. They didn’t show anything.

“I even pleaded with them for us to go to the nearest police station, but they refused.

“When they tried to move their bulldozer into the site, I tried to stop them. That’s when the leader of the team, Funmi, directed the armed police officers – four men – to wrestle me to the ground with the aim of bundling me into their car, which I resisted.

“Four men grabbed me, removing my headgear, and wrestled me to the ground and tear-gassed me — not considering that I am a woman and married for that matter.”

Sadiya said when her husband tried to intervene, the officers arrested and bundled him into a car, taking him to the Gwarinpa police station.

THE LAND DISPUTE

According to Sadiya, the land was bought from Savannah Suites in 2012, adding that she received a letter of consent from the FHA in 2013, after clearing arrears of N13.5 million.

She later applied for a change of purpose of the land, which was approved by the FHA in 2023.

In 2025, she applied for a development plan which was said to be approved by all the relevant departments in the FHA after submission of architectural, structural, engineering, and electrical designs.

But Sadiya said Ojo allegedly refused to approve the bill for her to start the project over six months after the application despite her consistent payment of ground rent and other official expenses since purchasing the land.

Sadiya said issues began when the FHA boss “illegally” carved out a portion of her land and allocated it to Aiben Properties Limited.

The property owner added that she had two meetings with the FHA MD in his office to resolve the matter but was allegedly threatened and verbally assaulted.

She claimed that Ojo bragged he was untouchable because he is President Bola Tinubu’s in-law, prompting her to approach the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court.

On July 1, the court, in suit number FCT/HC/B/CV/227/2025, ordered the parties to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.

The case was heard on October 22 and adjourned to January 25, 2026, for further hearing.

FHA DENIES ALLEGATIONS

Kenneth Chigelu, FHA head of public relations, dismissed the reports when TheCable contacted him on Monday.

According to Chigelu, the demolition was backed by a court order, adding that Sadiya assaulted the FHA officials during the exercise, prompting police intervention.

“The true position is that there was nothing like going on an illegal assignment. We went to recover a property. The property in question, the person overtook what rightly belonged to her, and we have been on it,” he said.

“The woman in question went to the high court in Bwari and got a certain injunction restraining FHA from entering the land, which we obeyed.

“So as a lawful organisation we went back and vacated the injunction which gave us access to monitor our land.

“During the period of the induction, FHA never went to that place, and they capitalised on the fact that there was an injunction to start illegal development on the land, which we mobilised to go and find out.

“It was the woman and the husband that assaulted the staff of the authority. What the police did was to intervene because we usually go with security, not to harass anybody.”

Chigelu said the property owner’s approach of “using the media” to get justice or malign organisations, instead of following a legal process was wrong.