A civil society group under the aegis of the Centre for Human Rights and Advocacy in Africa Network has condemned the demolition of the Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital (MLUTH) multi-billion naira Cancer Centre by officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) -.
The hospital is in the high-brow River Park Estate, Abuja.
The construction of the centre started a year ago, with massive construction work ongoing at the project site.
However, on September 13, 2025, FCTA bulldozers rolled into River Park Estate, housing the University hospital facility, and pulled the structure down to rubble.
In a Sunday statement co-signed by its Executive Director, Mr Henry Abba, and Director of Programmes, Michael Ikwebe, the group described the demolition as “high-handed, insensitive, barbaric and unacceptable”. It therefore condemned the action of the FCT Administration in its entirety.
The group noted that the available information suggested that the FCTA had not advanced any reason for its action.
The Civil Society Organisation expressed shock and disbelief that demolition of this magnitude could occur in contemporary Nigeria, and wondered what the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) aims at in the high-value estate.
“The whole incident has brought about panic in the estate, and at this point, nobody knows what is going on, because what was said in the report of the FCT Minister was that all the undeveloped portions are what they want to repossess.
“But what we have in this instance is a project commissioned for over a year and actively under development for the past year.
“We learnt on good authority that without any prior notice, the officials of FCTA came in and demolished the structure. In fact, they took the whole day even to do what they were doing there,” the group stated.
The Executive Director said that the FCTA’s action was highly condemnable and unacceptable and could best be described as one demolition done in bad fate.
According to the group, the demolition exercise was not only “Ill-timed but wicked,” as it claimed it was part of the FCTA’s policy of claiming portions of land within the estate.
“We are under siege in this country, and nobody seems to be talking. It is legally and morally wrong for the FCTA to come into an estate to demolish a University Teaching Hospital Cancer Centre, without prior notice, and on a Saturday.
“Saturday’s exercise came on the heels of 35 structures that have been demolished in the last 3 days within the estate on the directive of the Ministerial Taskforce set up by the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, the CSO stated.
The statement alleged that what is happening in the estate is a “land-grabbing” policy disguised as urban development.
“We strongly condemn the continued demolition of structures in River Park Estate, Abuja, by the FCTA, under the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.
“When a project under construction becomes an undeveloped space in the estate, the group queried.
“We hereby appeal to the FCT Minister to call the “Ministerial Committee” to order because they are going outside the report approved by the Minister, the statement said.
