Everest Amaefule, Abuja
A subscriber to the proposed Nyanya Community Plaza on the Abuja-Keffi Expressway, Mr. Emmanuel Ohanusi, has dragged the Abuja Municipal Area Council and the developer, Index Development Company Limited, to the Consumer Protection Council.
Investigation by our correspondent showed that the development of the plaza, for which money had been collected from about 600 subscribers, had been delayed since 2010 as the present occupants of the Nyanya Market, where the plaza is to be located, had obtained a court injunction restraining the area council from demolishing the market.
However, one of the subscribers, Ohanusi, in a petition to the CPC, said both AMAC and the developer had been fraudulent in obtaining money from subscribers since the injunction had been served on them before they went ahead to obtain money from unsuspecting subscribers.
He said, “AMAC and Index acted deceitfully in that the interlocutory injunction being pleaded now as the cause for the delay in commencing the project was granted by Justice Sylvanus Orji at the High Court of Justice Abuja on November 3, 2010, which they ignored and continued with the advertisement of the project for subscription from the public.
“I obtained the form by paying the sum of N50,000 into the project account, AMAC Index Revenue, with Aso Savings and Loans Plc with the deposit slip number 2277 on December 10, 2010. I also paid the initial subscription fee of N100,000 as per the terms and conditions of subscription then, with a deposit slip number 0326 into the same account on the same day.
“With the deposit slips, I proceeded to the project office, presented them and collected the subscription form. I completed the form and returned it on December 29, 2010 with an accompanying UBA bank draft of N4m to the project office of Index Development Company Limited. I was issued receipts for all payments I made.”
He added, “It can therefore be deduced that AMAC and Index deceitfully made me enter into a transaction with them on the project, despite the interlocutory injunction granted and served to them 37 days earlier.
“Their failure to heed the terms of the interlocutory injunction so granted vis-à-vis the project commencement and receipt of the subscription form from me is a fatal flaw in law as regards the transaction they entered into with me to subscribe and own a shop in the said project.”
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Index Development Company Limited, Mr. Moses Enenwali, in a telephone interview with our correspondent confirmed that his company had been involved in the development of the plaza since 2009.
He attributed the delay in the execution of the project to a legal tussle between the project owners, AMAC and some traders who presently occupy the market.
Enenwali lamented that his company had suffered enormous setbacks occasioned by the delay.
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