Land Grabbing: Kugbo Market Traders Report Abuja Coy To Minister

Traders at the Kugbo International Market in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to the FCT minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, to warn Abuja Investment Company Limited against embarking on any enforcement of land grabbing within the market environment.

The appeal was made yesterday by the president of United Kugbo Market Traders Association for Building Materials Prince Emeka Egwuekwe.

In a statement he sent to journalists yesterday, Egwuekwe said a court of competent jurisdiction had already ruled in the traders’ favour that the association has the necessary papers approved by the FCT Administration (FCTA).

He said that they were aware of a statement jointly issued by Abuja Investment Company Limited and MESOTHO Group Limited, which in their view and under whatever guise, contravened the FCTA’s stance on land grabbing.

Egwuekwe said, “In the said statement, the two organisations’ representatives who spoke during a media tour of the disputed Kugbo International  Market, made spurious ownership claim to the Kugbo commercial layout which was lawfully allocated to members of Mararaba building material market; the Kubgo Market Traders Association for Timber, Furniture, Mechanic, and Cement by the FCDA.

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“Ordinarily, we would not have bothered joining issues in a matter that the Abuja High Court ruled in our favour in 2017, but because Abuja Investment Company Limited and MESOTHO Group Limited threw caution to the wind by engaging in media gimmicks aimed at hoodwinking prospective subscribers.

“While we urge the general public to be wary of their investment decisions as the Kugbo International Market is in dispute, we wish to remind the Minister of the FCT that having applied for the Kugbo commercial layout and got the approval of the FCDA and allocation in 2003, in 2017 when we applied for revalidation of the same layout, it was the FCT’s Minister,  Musa Bello that approved and granted the revalidation.

“For the avoidance of doubt, it is on record that neither did MESOTHO that happened to be our developer until we parted ways after irreconcilable differences nor the FCT administration had challenged the judgment of the High Court which ruled in our favour and the judgment was never set aside until the renewed attempt to grab the Kugbo commercial layout in 2020, with the backing of the FCT police command,” he said.