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Residents of Ruga, a settlement along Airport Road, Abuja, took to the streets on Friday to protest the demolition of their houses on the orders of FCT Minister, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
The Special Ministerial Task Team of the Federal Capital Territory Administration allegedly carried out the demolition with malicious intent, according to the residents.
Leading the demonstration is human rights lawyer and activist Deji Adeyanju, alongside Vincent Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMark.
Adeyanju expressed concern, stating that the task force burnt many houses and destroyed property worth millions of naira.
He urged President Bola Tinubu to consider the plight of poor people who had been driven from their homes in Borno and other northern states due to insecurity in the region to resettle in the community.
Adeyanju said: “There is no justification for this demolition. We are using this medium to appeal to the president to consider the plight of the displaced residents, who are barely surviving.
“Most of the residents here were forced out of their homes in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe due to insecurity.
“Most of them are artisans trying to make a living. These demolitions are excessive, and Mr. President needs to act to prevent further harassment of the people.
“We are sounding a warning to those in government that peace is only achievable if the poor are allowed to live peacefully. When the poor cannot sleep, it affects everyone.
“Tinubu should call Wike to order and stop him from demolishing people’s homes and reallocating the land to rich people.
“There is no justification for demolishing these homes and allocating them to the rich. There is no overriding public interest here because the community is far from the main road.”
On his part, Otse said: “This is strange. The repercussions of this will have a heavy toll on Abuja.
“This area that has been demolished is not near the main road. These people have been rendered homeless amid the ongoing hardship in the country.
“They are evicting these people without compensating them. It is sad that the elite think the poor are not part of society.”
In the same vein, Abuja Estate Developers publicly condemned Wike on November 1 for overseeing the demolition of over N200 billion worth of houses under the guise of land revocation.
The group accused Wike of disregarding the court and rule of law, urging President Tinubu to intervene and rein in the minister which they claim have left over 100 families homeless.
On October 24, Lugbe residents had expressed outrage in a video released accusing the FCT Minister of demolishing their homes without prior notices.
One of them said: “We saw the development control; they came here, and the next thing they started removing houses.
“There was no prior notice; they didn’t tell us anything; all we heard was that the Minister was interested in the place and that they said they should remove anything that is existing there.
“We have a layout, which the Director of Development Control signed his approval on. I don’t know why they are doing that.
“They did it in Centenary City, and for 14 years, we have been going for relocation; up till now we have not gotten it, but if they are interested in a layout, they do it within one month.
“They came here on Wednesday and marked a few houses, and the next day, they came with machines to remove buildings.
“Normally, they give us notices—first, second, and third notices—none were given. Tell us the reason why you are demolishing houses; they don’t want to tell us, but they came with policemen firing tear gas.
“Even when we called them for an interview to understand what’s happening, they refused to listen to us instead shooting tear gas; even a civil defence guy said he was going to shoot me.
“We went through proper channels to get the land; what they do is intimidate us by telling us that it is AMAC land. I don’t know why they are threatening us with AMAC every day.
“If you have money and go to development control, you get approval; if you do not give them money, you will not get approval.”
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