Amid the ongoing legal battle over the ownership of the River Park Estate in Abuja, the Head of Compliance of the River Park Estate, Frank Johnson, has said that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesome Wike, might have been misinformed about the true state of affairs regarding the ownership of the estate.
He said that the minister was given a wrong narrative by the committee he set up, which denied them a fair hearing.
Frank disclosed this in a briefing with journalists in Abuja.
His explanation counters the firm’s Ghanaian narrative of Samuel Jonah being the majority shareholder of River Park Estate.
“No, what we are saying is that he has been misinformed. We want the public to understand the truth behind all of these issues.
“And what we are saying is that the minister was misinformed regarding some of the actions that have been taken. And if only they had listened to all the parties, these injustices would never have happened.
“Number one, due process was not followed in the build-up to the report he is acting on. The due process was not followed, and the only way to remedy that is to let the right things be done by allowing due process to take place.
“And when I say due process, we need to see the petition; we need to be able to respond to every allegation made against us.
“Another thing they have said is that the development lease agreement has expired. Well, it hasn’t, because the last approval that was given to us, that agreement, expired seven years after the last approval.
“We have approval as of 2023. How can it then expire in 2025? So these are all issues that need to be looked into. So what we are saying, and why I’m actually being cautious about this, is this matter is already in court. It’s why I’m a bit cautious in addressing that part,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Ghanaian counterpart had insisted on the ownership of the River Park Estate.
It will be recalled that the FCT minister in August inaugurated a committee to resolve the estate’s ownership crisis.
Most recently, Wike had vowed that he would issue a fresh Certificate of Occupancy to residents of the estate in the face of the ongoing ownership controversy.
River Park Estate crisis: Wike not properly informed about ownership – Firm