Group condemns demolition of Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital’s Cancer Center

Group condemns demolition of Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital’s Cancer Center

By Vivian Okejeme Abuja

A Civil Society group under the aegis of Centre For Human Rights And Advocacy In Africa Network, has condemned the demolition of the Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital (MLUTH) multi-billion naira Cancer Center by officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Saturday.

The world-class University Teaching Hospital is situated inside the high-brow River Park Estate Abuja.

The construction of the Cancer Center started a year ago, with massive construction work on going at the project site.

However, on Saturday, September 13, 2025, bulldozers of the FCTA rolled into River Park Estate, housing the gigantic University hospital facility and pulled the structure down to rubbles.

In a statement on Sunday, co-signed by it’s Executive Director, Mr Henry Abba, and Director of Programmes, Michael Ikwebe, the group described the demolition as “high handed, insensitive, barbaric and unacceptable” and therefore condemned the action of the FCT Administration in it’s entirety.

The group noted that information at it’s disposal suggested that no reason was advanced by the FCTA for it’s action.

The Civil Society Organization expressed shock and disbelief that demolition of this magnitude could take place in contemporary Nigeria, and wondered what the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is aiming at in the high-value estate.

“The whole incident has brought about panic in the estate, and at this point, nobody knows what is going on, because what was said in the report of the FCT Minister was that all undeveloped portion is what they want to re-possess.

“But what we have in this instance is a project that has been commissioned for over a year and has been actively under development for the past one year.

“We learnt on good authority that without any prior notice, the officials of FCTA came in an demolished the structure. In fact, they took the whole day to even do what they were doing there” the group stated.

The Executive Director said that the action of the FCTA was highly condemnable, unacceptable and could best be described as one demolition done in bad fate.

According to the group, the demolition exercise was not only “Ill-timed but wicked”, just as it claimed the demolition was part of the FCTA’s policy to claim portion’s of land within the estate.

“We are under siege in this country, and nobody seems to be talking. It is legally and morally wrong for the FCTA to come into an estate to demolish a University Teaching Hospital Cancer Center, without prior notice, and on a Saturday.

“Saturday’s exercise came on the heels of 35 structures that have been demolished in the last 3 days within the estate on the directive of the Ministerial Taskforce set up by the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, the CSO stated.

The statement alleged that what is going on in the estate is a policy of “land grabbing” disguised as urban development.

“We strongly condemn the continued demolition of structures in River Park Estate Abuja by the FCTA, under the watch of the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike.

“When has a project under construction become an undeveloped space in the estate, the group querried.

“We hereby appeal to the FCT Minister to call the “Ministerial Committee” to order because they are going outside the the report approved by the Minister, the statement said.

Meanwhile, efforts to get the Management of Margaret Lawrence University Teaching Hospital was futile as placed calls were not going through.