By OUR REPORTER

More startling revelations have emerged from a Lagos-based civil engineer, McDonald Okwor, 48, who alleged that his multi-million naira mansion was razed to rubbles by officials of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) at 6th Avenue, FESTAC Town, Lagos, on Saturday, October 11, 2025, describing it as the total destruction of years of labor and dreams.

Smarting from the heartrending and painful experience of watching his sweat reduced to sand by gun-wielding policemen numbering over 35 and heavily armed thugs including people that claimed to be officials of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), who stormed his residence at noon with heavy duty machines and earth moving caterpillars, Engineer Okwor alleged that immediately he packed into the house early this year, they came with a lawyer threatening to demolish his mansion unless he pay them N262,200,000 as settlement otherwise they will use FHJA to demolish my property.

My case

He stated: “The land syndicate in Festac is working with FHA to exploit me. After one barrister (name withheld) led some hoodlums to arrest my workers at the site some months ago, I petitioned AIG Zone 2, about the incident. The lawyer and his gang were invited by the police, but they never honored the invitation till now.

“I went to FHA office to complain about the harassment because I was convinced that FHA cannot authorize such illegal action since the case between them and the family that sold the land to me is still ongoing in court. I was shocked when the FHA Head of Survey, told me that they advised the lawyer and his group to go and arrest my workers in order to force me to come for settlement with them.

“However, in order to broker peace, I asked my lawyer to open up discussion with them. It was then that they asked me to pay N262,200,000 as settlement otherwise they use FHA to demolish my property. Seeing how outrageous they were, I resolved to wait for the court judgment, which will decide the rightful owner, FHA or Kuje family that sold the land to me.

“The syndicate paid FHA to come and demolish, and FHA ignored the court and demolished my property without court order. The question is, Is FHA above the law? Where is their court judgment over the land that is currently in court? Where is the court order they used? Is there no longer law in Nigeria?”

Threat to my life

“I would like to place it on record that few hours before they started demolishing my house, neighbors saw a brown Infiniti SUV owned by a very notorious man from the Eastern part of the country packed just very close to my house. The car was also packed next to the Toyota Hilux truck, the same spot the Black Maria was parked when we were bundled into it. As soon as the vehicle left, the demolition squad stormed the area. While they were demolishing, children of my closest neighbor who were watching from their windows attracted their evil attention.

“They thought the children were recording them on video and they broke into the compound, arrested their father, the children and workers in the compound. They came back to my compound and arrested me, my wife, elder brother, my elder sister and her husband, beat them up mercilessly, seized all our phones, bundled us into their Black Maria truck and detained us at their Oshodi Task Force cell from Saturday afternoon till the next day, Sunday morning.

“This happened because after the demolition, there were a lot of naked electrical wires on the ground and still connected to NEPA. I called the NEPA marketer in charge of the area to quickly send their men to disconnect the line from source. However, in order to protect the wires from being flooded before arrival of NEPA officials since it is rainy season, I asked a brick layer to quickly put two coaches of block in front of the premises as safety measure. A spy called the task force that we have started building the fence again. The task force came in their numbers with about 35 armed policemen, rushed us, with heavy beating, released tear gas to avoid phone recording by neighbors and started arresting anybody they saw within the area.

“Their claim that they were attacked is pure lies. While I was in the cell, they continued telling me to go and settle by paying the huge money the syndicate requested. They forced me to write an undertaking that I will never go back to the land again. Until this land grabbers and cabals who work with the FHA and Lagos state Task Force is dismantled, FESTAC will never have peace.”

According to Engr. Okwor, trouble started after he moved into the property nine months ago, following claims by a lawyer (names withheld) that the portion was allotted to him by the FHA. Explaining further, he said: “The same month we moved in, my painter called me that one lawyer came with some hoodlums, vandalized my gate, arrested my workers, and took them to the FESTAC Police Station. I received a call from the police that they needed my attention. I was told that a man claimed to be the main allottee of the land from FHA and wanted to see me. So, I consulted my lawyer, who went there and bailed the boys because I was not in Lagos then.

“One month after that, they came to my property again and pasted a demolition notice emanating from FHA. I snapped the notice and sent it to the lawyer representing the Kuje family on the case. The history is that when the Federal High Court gave judgment in favor of the family in 2016, FHA appealed. As we speak, the matter is before the Lagos State High Court. The court directed that all parties should maintain the status quo until judgment is delivered.

“FHA should know they don’t have any right to demolish until the final judgment comes out. So, it was based on that that I had peace. But I was surprised last Saturday morning when I went to play football. Around 8 a.m., I saw about 23 missed calls from my neighbours. When I returned one of the calls, they asked me to rush home, that FHA was at my property with a bulldozer to demolish my building.

“Before I got home, they had brought down the fence and cut my building into two. I started begging them to give me time. Even my wife was inside when they began the demolition. People were shouting, telling them someone was inside, but they didn’t listen. My furniture, electronics, machines, documents, certificates, international passport, bed, and clothes were all buried under the debris.”

“The following day, over 30 policemen in six Helix vans stormed the site as we tried to block water from entering the wreckage. They beat me, my wife, and my brother, threw us into a Black Maria, and took us to the Taskforce cell at Oshodi. They forced me to sign an undertaking not to return to the property,” he alleged.

When this reporter visited the FHA office at 211 Road, Festac, one of their workers wearing the inscription, MM Ayuba simply said: “We don’t have anything to share with you. If you have any questions, direct it to our office at Abuja. However, a lawyer who claimed to be working in their legal department told our reporter that FHA followed all legal procedures, including pasting demolition notices in the building, but the owner refused to show up. Rather, he sent people to clean up the notices.

"On the allegation of bribe, he did not tell you the truth. The issue of money came up only when the original owner of the land graciously agreed to be paid in cash if he was to allow sleeping dogs to lie. He discussed with the man's lawyer who pleaded for the concession. They failed to reply after that."