Keypoints:
- Wike confirms dispute has entered arbitration
- JonahCapital says lease remains valid
- Authorities dispute the agreement’s expiry date
JONAHCAPITAL Nigeria has taken its River Park Estate lease dispute with Abuja authorities to arbitration, Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike has confirmed.
The proceedings follow a prolonged disagreement over whether the Development Lease Agreement governing the estate had expired when the Federal Capital Development Authority moved to recover the land. JonahCapital maintains that the agreement remains valid, while Wike says the lease had already ended.
Wike confirms arbitration
Wike told a media briefing that the opposing party had begun arbitration and that the authorities would allow the proceedings to run their course.
‘The other party has gone to arbitration, and we said okay, let them conclude the arbitration process,’ Wike said.
The minister maintained that the FCDA’s contractual relationship was with JonahCapital Nigeria Limited, not Paulo Homes Limited, which he said became involved at a later stage.
Wike also argued that the Development Lease Agreement had expired, giving the authority the right to recover the property.
The minister’s remarks confirm that the dispute has entered arbitration. However, no publicly accessible filing, procedural order or tribunal document identifying the administering institution, respondents or precise remedies sought had been located at publication time.
Lease expiry sharply disputed
A petition Sir Sam Jonah sent to Ghana’s foreign minister in December 2025 says JonahCapital signed the Development Lease Agreement with the FCDA on May 28, 2007, under the FCT Mass Housing Scheme.
JonahCapital argues that the agreement’s seven-year development period should be calculated from the date of final approval rather than the date on which the original lease was signed.
The company says comprehensive development approval was issued on June 20, 2023, meaning the lease should remain valid until June 20, 2030.
JonahCapital also alleges that the FCDA failed to provide roads, drainage, electricity and other infrastructure required under the agreement, leaving the developer to finance essential works.
It further claims that the authority failed to follow the prescribed notice and remedy procedure before terminating the lease.
Those assertions remain JonahCapital’s position and have not been determined by the arbitral tribunal.
Earlier ruling had narrower scope
A 2022 Nigerian Court of Appeal judgment confirms the existence of the Development Lease Agreement and earlier litigation involving JonahCapital and the River Park Residents Association.
The appeal examined whether residents could enforce provisions of the agreement and recover charges linked to estate services and management.
It did not decide whether the lease remained valid in 2025, whether the authorities lawfully terminated it or whether either party is entitled to compensation.
Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has separately denied personally allocating the land to Jonah. His denial concerns the history of the allocation and does not, by itself, invalidate the Development Lease Agreement recorded in court proceedings and described in Jonah’s petition.
Dispute gains diplomatic dimension
The disagreement had already moved beyond a commercial property dispute before the arbitration was confirmed.
In his December petition, Jonah asked Ghana’s foreign minister to engage Nigerian authorities and alert ECOWAS over what he described as threats to a Ghanaian-led investment.
The case adds to wider concerns about contractual certainty, public authority and the protection of cross-border investments in Africa.
Nigeria has previously defeated a $1.5bn oil-field arbitration claim, while Guinea faces a $28.9bn mine-permit dispute involving the withdrawal of mining rights.
For River Park Estate, the central issue is whether JonahCapital’s lease remained in force when the Abuja authorities acted.
That question will now be resolved through arbitration rather than through the competing public accounts offered by the parties.
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