A group of investors at the Trinity Gardens, Abuja, has accused the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) of unfair treatment and the unlawful demolition of their property.

They claimed that they complied with statutory regulations and legal obligations.

The investors claimed that the area, originally designated to preserve greenery and maintain Abuja?s ecosystem, was developed entirely through private effort and personal funding.

Speaking to journalists in Abuja, one of the co-investors, Mrs. Jennifer Umeh, said the group?s purpose in addressing the media was to ?appeal to the conscience of Nigerians? and draw attention to what they described as a deliberate attempt to dispossess them of their legitimate investment.

?They have taken our source of livelihood,? Umeh said. ?We are legal occupants of a designated green area in Maitama, duly recognized by the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) under a lease agreement executed in 2007.

?We rehabilitated the land when it was being eroded, filled it with sand, and planted every tree with our bare hands. We have paid all statutory dues, including ground rent and other levies imposed by the AMMC. This year alone, we paid N1,040,000 as demanded by the authorities.?

Umeh added that the investors had complied with every directive from the FCT authorities, including the recent order by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory to review and regularise green area allocations.

She alleged that while they were in the process of submitting their documentation for vetting, their land was reallocated to a newly incorporated company.

?The company, Abuja City Works Limited, was incorporated on June 18, 2025, with Maglinx International Limited as its 100% shareholder. By July, a Right of Occupancy (R of O) was issued over the very land we have occupied and developed for 14 years,? she said.

According to Umeh, the plot initially measured 7,000 square meters, but the investors currently occupy about 2,000 square meters. ?It remains a green area, yet they have converted it to ?mixed use,? meaning it can now be used for anything. This is against Abuja?s master plan,? she added.

She lamented that the demolition had dealt a devastating blow to their means of livelihood, disclosing that 68 graduates were directly employed at Trinity Gardens before the incident, in addition to several indirect workers.

Another investor and leader of the group, Mrs. Progress Okuk, maintained that the group had not violated any law or regulation, insisting they had operated within the legal framework established by the FCT authorities.

?We have not flouted any rule whatsoever. This place was an environmental beauty before now?every tree and flower here was planted by us. Even diplomats used this space as a peaceful retreat,? Okuk said.

She explained that the investors had paid their ground rent in April and were processing reallocation in June when they discovered that the property had already been awarded to the month-old company.

?We have invested heavily here, and we are simply asking for justice,? she stated.

Okuk appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Minister of the FCT, and relevant authorities to investigate the circumstances surrounding the demolition and the reallocation of their property.

?We are law-abiding Nigerians trying to make an honest living. What happened to us is unjust. We hope the government will intervene to restore our rights and our means of survival,? she added. (The Guardian)

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