Property owners and residents of Comfort Royal Estate in Abuja have asked the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to restrain a property firm, Skill Team Limited, and the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, from forcefully evicting them from their homes.
In a writ of summons filed by their counsel, Reuben Atabo (SAN), the claimants also sought an order stopping the defendants from trespassing on their properties located within Comfort Royal Estate, Plot 347, Cadastral Zone B14, Dutse District, Abuja.
They prayed the court to nullify any document of title or building approval being relied upon by Skill Team Limited to claim ownership of their homes.
The claimants further requested a declaration that the sale of their parcels of land by the first defendant, Shaibu Osilama, was valid and subsisting.
Additionally, they sought damages of N500 million for trespass, embarrassment, and distress allegedly caused by the firm’s actions.
The suit, marked CV/3900/25, was filed by the Registered Trustees of Comfort Royal Estate Property Owners and Residents Association, Apo-Dutse, along with 19 other residents, including Michael Mukwuzi, Lilian Igwebuike, Adeboye Popoola, Dick Okezie, and others.
The defendants are listed as Shaibu Osilama (trading as Nuel Osilama & Partners), Skill Team Limited, the Minister of the FCT, Nuel Osilama & Partners Ltd, and Nuel Osilama Global Investment Ltd.
According to the statement of claim, the association was registered on 29 December 2022, while the individual claimants are residents of the estate who purchased their lands between 2013 and 2016.
They stated that Osilama and his companies advertised and sold the plots to them after acquiring the land from Skill Team Limited.
The claimants said they paid between N6.5 million and N8.5 million for each plot, received receipts, allocation letters, and approved building plans from the Department of Development Control, after which they built and moved into their homes.
They alleged that in 2024, officials of Skill Team Limited began claiming ownership of the properties, despite having sold the land over a decade earlier.
“The 2nd defendant stood by between 2013 and 2016 without claiming title, while the claimants developed and occupied their properties for over 10 years without interference,” they stated.
They said Skill Team Limited later issued letters dated 7 August, asking residents to repurchase their properties within 14 days at new prices, despite their previous payments.
The claimants said many of them, including retirees and widows, could not afford the new demand and had already made full payments through the initial sellers.
They accused the firm of planning to evict them and resell their houses to new buyers.
The case has not yet been assigned a hearing date.
(NAN)