By Ikechukwu  Nnochiri, Abuja
After much entreaties to the authorities to stop the planned demolition of Mpape, a suburb, near high brow Maitama District,  Abuja could not yield the desired result, the residents resorted to to the law court hoping to stop the demolition through the judiciary.

But, last week, that attempt also failed as Justice Hussein Baba Yusuf of an Abuja High Court refused to issue an order restraining the Federal Capital Development Authority, FCDA, from going ahead with its planned demolition of earmarked shanty-towns in Abuja.

The judge, who however slated August 23 to commence hearing on a suit that was instituted against the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, by Abuja residents under the aegis of Non-Indigenous Landlords of Gbagyi Villages in Mpape, said he would not make an order capable of fuelling crisis within the FCT.

Stressing that the suit was not ripe for hearing, Yusuf said: “I think it is wise at this point to refrain from making any order that could be interpreted to mean that the reliefs sought by the applicants have been granted. On the basis of this I make no order of restraint.”

However, he admonished the parties to respect the sanctity of the judiciary by refraining from engaging in any action capable of jeopardizing the “Res” of the case before the court, adding, “it is clearly the law that once parties have submitted their grievances to the court, it will be wrong to resort to self-help.”
It would be recalled that the FCT Minister, recently, okayed the demolition of 19 suburb cities in Abuja, saying the action was aimed at curbing the pervasive distortion of the original Abuja master-plan.

Though the National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, promptly cautioned the FCT Administration against embarking on any action capable of breaching the constitutional and fundamental right of any Nigerian resident within the FCT, following the renewed bid by the authorities to demolish marked houses of non-indigenes in the 19 suburbs, eleven landlords in Mpape , led by one Mr Friday Chiemeka, approached the court with an application seeking to stop the planned demolition exercise.

The demolition plan, if executed, will render over 4, 000 Abuja residents homeless.

In an affidavit attached to the suit, the deponent, Chiemeka, averred that, despite an advice by another FCT High Court that status quo should be maintained on the matter,  recent utterances by the FCT Minister, Mohammed, indicated that unless the court issued the order, the “Res” of the case may be truncated before the end of this month.

Consequently, the High Court warned that since the case is already before a court of competent jurisdiction, it is trite that all the parties should maintain the status-quo, pending the determination of the substantive matter.