PRESS RELEASE:FCTA EXECUTES COURT ORDER, TAKES OVER THISDAY DOME

The FCT Administration through its investment arm, the Abuja
Investment Company (AICL) today took over the THISDAY Dome in
compliance with last week’s Appeal Court judgment.

Speaking after formally taking over the property from the Court
Bailiff, the Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Abuja
Investment Company Limited, Dr. Musa Ahmed Musa, said the court “is
indeed the last hope of the common man”.

The Group Managing Director recalled that in 2009, AICL was allocated
Plot 702 Cadastral Zone A00, CBD, Abuja and thereafter entered into a
2-year lease agreement with Messrs Leaders and Company (Publishers of
Thisday Newspaper) in respect of the said Plot, now popularly called
“This Day Dome Arena”. The lease agreement was effective from May 1,
2009.

His words: “The total rent payable for the term was ₦97,094,284.02, of
which Messrs. Leaders & Company deposited the sum of ₦57,558,854.73 as
part payment. The Lease Agreement provided that the balance of the
rent in the sum of N39,495,429.30, was to be paid on or before August
31, 2009.

“In spite of several requests for payment, however, the balance of the
rent remains outstanding as Messrs. Leaders & Company has flagrantly
refused to pay,” Dr. Musa stressed.

He said that due to the company’s failure to pay the outstanding
balance of rent, the AICL in its letter dated April 13, 2011,
indicated to the company its unwillingness to renew the lease which
expired on April 30, 2011, and requested M/S Leaders & Company to
deliver vacant possession of the property at the end of the agreed
lease period, which till date remains outstanding.

“M/S Leaders’ recalcitrant behavior was predicated on the fact that it
is a media house and had made threats to use the media in blackmailing
AICL and FCTA into not collecting its rent and also forfeiting its
rights to the property. Notwithstanding all the propaganda, AICL
resorted to the only available remedy to it which was the law courts,”
he added.

He stated that the Administration went to court in 2012 to recover the
property and judgment was passed in 2014, which was appealed by M/S
Leaders & Company.

According to him, last week Thursday, the appeal failed and the
company’s application for a stay of execution proceeding was also
dismissed by the court.

At the site of taking over and handing over to the FCT Administration,
Mrs. Ada Amadi of AICL Legal Department, revealed that the Court of
Appeal also awarded the sum of N197,477,702.8 being cumulative
outstanding of rent due to the FCT Administration.

She said that the structure at the site would be evaluated to
ascertain its value, and if it was not up to the outstanding N197
million, the balance would be pursued through a garnishing proceeding
in the Court.

Muhammad Hazat Sule, FCAI
Deputy Director / Chief Press Secretary,
Friday, June 24, 2016.