Paul Odili of Paulo Homes, one of the parties in the River Park Estate crisis in the Federal Capital Territory, tries to flee the country after his N200million Bail.
He was initially arrested in Abuja on Thursday, September 11, 2025 by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Ministerial Task Force, granted bail of N200million and directed to submit his international passport, which he never did. Odili was accused of violating "stop work order" by the court after the estate issue were probed by a ministerial review committee.
On Saturday, September 13, 2025, Odili was allegedly "attempts to run away from the country" amid the ongoing probe into the estate.
"He is on a flight to Lagos to connect to the US after he refused to surrender his passport. He is travelling with the CEO of Paulo Homes. The duo were spotted at the Abuja Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport boarding a local flight to Lagos to attempt to connect to the United States of America," a top police source revealed.
"Paul Odili is presently on a bail of N200 million and it was the CEO of Paulo Homes, Giles Anazia who stood in as surety for the bail conditions," he added.
Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister, had on August 8, 2025, inaugurated an ad-hoc committee to review controversies surrounding River Park Estate.
The committee, chaired by Barrister Salman Dako, submitted its report last week, recommending the revocation of undeveloped plots due to expiration and breach of the Development Lease Agreement (DLA), citing Clause 9.2 of the agreement.
Then an Abuja High Court directed the warring parties in the River Park Estate dispute to “maintain the status quo” and stay off the contested properties. The court gave the ruling amid the legal battle over ownership and development rights within the sprawling River Park Estate in the FCT, Abuja.
It was gathered that the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) also demolished more than 30 substructures over violation of planning regulations.
The administration accused the affected developers of defying withdrawal of their lease agreements and a ministerial committee’s recommendation that all undeveloped plots in the estate be reverted to the FCTA.
The committee, however, clarified that holders of valid customary titles within the estate who had developed their plots in line with planning and development control regulations should retain their titles, in line with a subsisting court judgment.
Leading enforcement officers to the site on Wednesday, the Director of Development Control, Mukhtar Galadima, said the demolition was prompted by intelligence reports that developers were rushing to complete structures in defiance of the directive.
"About a week ago, one of the committees on River Park Estate recommended that all undeveloped plots within the estate be reverted back to the FCTA. We got reports that certain developers were hurriedly working day and night to develop some of the vacant plots. As an agency, we served them notice to stop work. This morning, we saw them still working, so we are removing the structures — the excavations and all those foundations put on the ground,” Galadima said.
He confirmed that over 30 foundations had already been dug, but vowed that they would all be covered.
“Whoever we see on site, we remove it. Luckily, they are just at excavation level. But wherever we see any new development coming up, we will remove it again,” he warned.
It was learnt that despite the stop-work order, the Sector Center and Cluster 3 works were allegedly "still ongoing by defiant individuals linked to Paulo Homes and Aazik Homes."
"Despite the stop work order, some workers were still working in Sector Center and Cluster 3 of the estate," a source added.
The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation also formally instructed the Nigerian police to halt all actions relating to Charge No. CR/402/25, filed by the police on June 26, and transmit the entire case file to the AGF for independent review.
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