Nigeria’s former First Lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua this afternoon, floored incumbent First Lady, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan as Justice Peter Affren of the Abuja High Court set aside the purported revocation by the FCT administration of a land measuring about 1.84 hectares allocated to Turai’s non governmental organization, Women and Youth Empowerment Foundation, WAYEF.
The court held that the claims by the FCT Minister that the land was revoked on an overriding public interest was not supported by any shred of evidence before the court.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woefully to adduce any shred of evidence before this court to support their claims that the allocation of the land was revoked on overriding public interest.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 court faulted the FCT Minister’s exercise of his powers in revoking the plot of land allocated to Turai’s organization, noting that the exercise of that power to revoke allocation of land must come within the confines of the law. Delivery of the court’s judgment was adjourned by the court several times to enable Mrs. Jonathan and Hajia Yar’Adua reach a negotiated settlement but all to no avail. The disputed land, plot number 1347 Cadastral Zone AOO, Central Business District, Abuja, FCT, was initially allocated to 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” and re-allocated it to Mrs. Jonathan for the building of African First Lady Peace Mission Headquarters on 2nd of November, 2011. Mrs. Yar’Adua complained that the land allocated to WAYEF on 19 February, 2010, was being trespassed upon by Mrs. Jonathan and got a court order dated in 2012 restraining the First Lady from affecting WAYEF title and interest over the land.
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