Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Gabriel Osa
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has issued an interim injunction restraining Nyesom Wike, Minister of the FCT, alongside the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), from giving effect to or acting on a controversial land revocation notice involving a prime property in the prestigious Maitama district of Abuja. The order, delivered on December 22, 2025, comes amid a heated legal battle over land rights and proper process.
The disputed property—Park No. 2008, Cadastral Zone A06, Maitama—measuring about 1.96 hectares has long been at the centre of competing claims between the FCT Administration and Nanet Hotels Limited, which asserts legal entitlement and uninterrupted occupation of the land. Nanet Hotels initiated legal action challenging what it described as an unlawful revocation of its rights by the FCTA.
In granting the interim injunction, Justice Bello Kawu of the FCT High Court issued a broad restraining order against Wike, the FCTA, and AMAC, prohibiting them from acting on the revocation notice contained in a July 7, 2025 letter received in September. The court held that the defendants must be restrained from “giving effect to, acting upon, enforcing, implementing or taking any step whatsoever pursuant to the purported revocation… pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
The judge also forbade any action to eject, harass, intimidate, disturb, seal, demolish, relocate, or otherwise interfere with Nanet Hotels’ possession and occupation of the land. In a clear directive to law enforcement, the court instructed the Inspector-General of Police and the Nigeria Police Force not to assist in enforcing the revocation or provide security support for any eviction or disturbance. All parties were ordered to maintain the status quo as of the date the suit was filed.
The injunction followed an ex parte motion filed by Nanet Hotels (Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/5274/2025 and related motion FCT/HC/M/17103/2025), challenging the legality of the FCTA’s purported action and asserting its rights under a Deed of Sub-Lease dated July 9, 2007, which it says entitles it to occupy the property until 2037 unless lawfully terminated according to the terms of the lease and applicable law.
In response to the court order, Nanet Hotels’ solicitors, including Senior Advocate Chikaosolu Ojukwu and Segun Fiki, issued a public caveat emptor notice warning potential buyers, developers, investors and government authorities against entering into any transaction related to the disputed land. The notice emphasised that there is a “subsisting and active suit” before the FCT High Court, and that dealing in the property while the interim injunction remains in place could expose parties to long and costly litigation. Anyone who transacts on the land “does so entirely at his own risk,” the legal notice stated.
The court’s intervention reflects mounting legal challenges to the FCTA’s aggressive enforcement of land revocations across key districts of Abuja, including Maitama, Asokoro, Garki and Wuse, where tenants and title holders have faced revocation notices over alleged default on ground rents, Certificate of Occupancy bills, violation fees, and land use conversion charges. In late 2025, thousands of properties were listed for revocation by the FCTA for alleged non-compliance.
Property rights and land use disputes in the FCT have become increasingly contentious, with multiple cases now before the courts. The latest interim order underscores the judiciary’s role in adjudicating competing claims and enforcing legal processes where administrative actions are contested. For Nanet Hotels, the interim injunction is a critical safeguard that prevents the government or any of its agencies from taking unilateral steps that might jeopardise its asserted legal rights while the substantive case unfolds.
Observers say the legal tussle highlights broader tensions between the FCTA’s land recovery and regulatory enforcement policies and the rights of individuals and corporate entities with existing leases or interests in Abuja’s high-value districts. The outcome of the substantive suit, still pending before the FCT High Court, could shape future land administration practices and investor confidence in one of Nigeria’s most important real estate markets.
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