Natives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have appealed to the minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, to use his power to put an end to the demolition of their rural communities without due compensation and resettlement of affected natives.
The natives who lamented the demolition of about 100 houses at Kpaduma 2 village in the Guzape district of the FCT on September 4, 2024, expressed disappointment that no prior notices were given to them before the demolition.
The Madaki of Kpaduma 1, Simon Baba-Yerima, while speaking to journalists in a press briefing, it was sad to know that a government they have always supported failed to carry them along in the planned demolition of houses in the territory.
“It is on record that there is a court injunction restraining the authority of FCT and any allottees from entering the community for development or demolition, pending the determination of the case in the court, because we are surprised that a government that is supposed to obey the rule of law is the one violating it.
“We are bonafide citizens of this country, and we should not be treated as animals or fugitives in our ancestral land. The FCT minister had said that during demolition, no native houses should be tampered with, but the authority came and said that it was the minister who permitted them to demolish our houses. This is sad and should not be allowed to continue.
“We are appealing to the minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, as a lawyer to obey the court injunction and stop further demolition in our communities. We are citizens of this country and original inhabitants of Abuja, so we should be accorded some dignity and respect because we are peace-loving people.
“The Department of Development Control Parks and Recreation that invaded our community to demolish over 100 houses, without prior notices or compensation and resettlement, sincerely speaking, we are not happy,” he said.
Baba-Yerima said that the demolition exercise has worsened their suffering, mainly when Nigeria faces a severe socioeconomic challenge and hardship, saying that it is unacceptable.
“So, as usual, we will pursue this cause to its logical conclusion as law-abiding citizens because it is globally said that ‘two wrongs cannot make a right’. So, we have to pursue it legally to get justice because we see it as a threat, brutality and injury to the original inhabitants of Abuja and an abuse of democracy.
“Is this the dividends of democracy we expect to achieve from a democratic government? No. We believe that nobody should be above the law and that due process should be respected.
“So, we will be happy if the FCT minister addresses this matter very well in our interest as bonafide citizens of Nigeria and indigenes of the FCT. We have never thought of being rebellious or tried to be terrorists in nature, not to talk of being hostile, no.
“We accommodated and embraced the development, so our interest should be recognised and respected so that we can as well live and enjoy the democracy,” he said.
Also, the village head of Guzape district, Chief Bitrus Yakubu, explained that last Tuesday at about 10 am, the officials of FCDA came to mark some houses in their community without informing them of their coming, so they chased them away.
“So, on Wednesday, they came with a battalion of well-armed joint security personnel and bulldozers to demolish our houses, almost 200 houses.
“All the occupants of the houses, who are mainly indigenes of the community, are presently homeless. When we asked them why they were demolishing the houses, they said it was an order from the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike.
“We told them that we wondered why the minister would send them to demolish our houses because we appreciate the work that he is doing in the FCT. We are also aware that he never tampered with villages during the construction of infrastructures in Rivers State,” he said.
The village head said that if any demolition would affect villages, the minister knew that there were chiefs of villages in the FCT, so it was right for him to look for them and dialogue with them on what would be done and how the affected people can be compensated and resettled.
“But, not like that was done; they just came and demolished about 200 houses with notice. The owners of the houses are not homeless, sitting inside the sun and under the rain because they do not have money to get another place to stay. This is our pain, and it is really sad.
“We know that allottees are the ones disturbing us in this Guzape district because the FCDA knows that people still live here in their ancestral land, and they will still allocate residential houses of natives to non-indigenes as their plots of land.
“We observed that the allottees used to pay demolition to come and demolish houses that were allocated to them on people’s residential houses, for them to take possession of the place. If you asked them, they will say that the government sent them, and if you ask the government, it will say that the allottees are the ones to blame,” he said.
Yakubu also appealed to the minister that they were born in the community and do not have a place to call their home or village except from the FCT.
“If they want to develop where we stay, we should be carried along in their plans so that we will not be on the losing side. Because the last demolition was extremely painful, and our people are presently homeless. This is the third time that such a demolition is taking place in our community,” he said.
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