The Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Mr Oyetunde Ojo, has sent two busloads of armed police officers to illegally demolish an Abuja property despite a pending court case on the land.
The police officers, accompanied by some staff of the FHA, came to the site in two Coaster buses on Friday around noon, and allegedly physically assaulted the lady owner of the property, who is pregnant. dragging her on the ground when she attempted to stop them from demolishing the property.
The property is located along 5th Avenue, 52 Road, Gwarinpa Il Estate Abuja, belonging to Tolwu Integrated Properties Ltd.
Hajiya Sadiya the owner of the property, told journalists that she was beaten, dragged on the ground and wounded in one of her arms allegedly by the armed police officers deployed to illegally destroy the fence in the property despite a pending case before the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja.
The armed police officers were led to the site by Madam Funmi, an Assistant General Manager, at the FHA.
“The FHA team came to the site to destroy our fences without any court order or any other official document.
When they came to the site, I rushed to the site with my lawyer. We asked the police officers to show any enforcement’s document or court paper. They didn’t show anything,” the lady said.
She said when she arrived the site, she told the FHA team that the case was in court. “I even pleaded with them for us to go to the nearest police station but they refused,” she said.
The land owner said, “when they tried to move their bulldozer into the site, I tried to stop them. That when the leader of the team, Funmi, directed the armed police officers — four men to wrestle me to the ground with the aim of bundling me into their car, of which I resisted. Four men grabbed me, removing my head gear and wrestled me to the ground and tear-gassed me — not considering that I am a woman and married for that matter.”
The lady who was in tears said, when her husband saw how the armed police men were assaulting his wife to the extent of trying to unclad her, he tried to stop them but was arrested and bundled into a car and taken to Gwarinpa Police Station.
It was after the demolition that the FHA boss went to the Office of the Inspector General of Police and spent the whole day trying to obtain permit for the police officers used in the illegal demolition.
The lady said the FHA boss used the police officers attached to the authority for the illegal operation.
Hajiya Sadiya said she bought the land from Savannah Suites in 2012. She got a Letter of Consent from the FHA in 2013 after clearing the arrears of N13.5 million. In 2021, she applied for a Change of Purpose of the land, which was approved by the FHA in 2023. In 2025, she applied for Development Plan, which was approved by all the relevant departments in the FHA after submission of architectural, structural, engineering, and electrical designs. But Mr Ojo allegedly refused to approve the bill for her to start the project more than 6 months after the application.
She said she has been paying ground rent and all other official expenses on the land since she bought it in 2012 without defaulting.
Hajiya Sadiya said problem started when the new FHA boss Ojo, illegally carved out good part of the Gwarimpa land and allocated it to Aiben Properties Limited.
After two meetings in his office where the FHA boss allegedly threatened and verbally assaulted her, and bragging that he was untouchable because he is an in-law to President Bola Tinubu, the lady approached the FCT High Court in Abuja.
On July 1, 2025, the court in a suit number FCT/HC/B/CV/227/2025, ordered the parties to maintain status quo pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
Official records have shown that court heard the case in October 22, and adjourned to 25 January 2026 for further hearing.
On July 7, a group of concerned employees and stakeholders at the FHA have written a petition calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development to urgently investigate the FHA boss Mr Ojo, over allegations of corruption, abuse of office, and gross mismanagement.
The concerned staff alleged that Mr Ojo had restricted access to key record rooms, where sensitive documents are reportedly tampered with to enable illegal land grabbing and the extortion of property owners.
When contacted on Sunday, the Head of Public Relations of the FHA, Mr Kenneth Chigelu, said he couldn’t respond now. “I can’t respond to you now. Since the matter was in court, the land owner should have gone back to the court, not the press,” he said.
When our reporter explained to him what the FHA officials and the armed police did during the demolition, he said the reporter should meet him physically in the office.
