Mummy I am afraid, let us go and see daddy. Mummy let us go and see grandma,” Faridath Awodele a five-year-old cried as she watched the house she had known as home for her few years of existence on earth being pulled down.
While Faridath, who had just returned from school and was still in her school uniform cried and tugged at her mother’s leg to take her away, her mother, Basirath Awodele was preoccupied with salvaging her property, as she claimed she was unprepared for the demolition and did not have time to move out her property.
Over the weekend, the Development Control Department of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), rolled out its bull dozers for another round of demolition at Iddo Sariki community.
The exercise, which was on the directive of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Senator Bala Mohammed, LEADERSHIP gathered, was carried out in furtherance of efforts to enforce the Abuja Master Plan.
Awodele, one of those affected in the exercise claimed that they were taken unawares by the exercise, saying even though they had been given a 21 days notice, they later heard that the exercise had been called off so they relaxed and added that she had called her husband wo is a civil servant in Nasarawa State to come and see things for himself.
“That was why we did not move our property. We were shocked when they came today and started pulling down the houses. I’m just stranded because I don’t know where to go now and my husband is still on his way,” she said.
Another resident, the proprietress of Godly Seeds Redeemers Private Montessori School, Mrs. Joy Emenogu said the exercise was cruel, unnecessary and an economic waste to the nation.
“I have a nursery, primary and secondary school with over 250 pupils. Schools all over the nation are presently in full session; just tell me where these children will go to. Their academic calendar has just been disrupted by the government that claims that it is giving priority to education.
“If they claim that they are removing people who are questionable in the society does that also include schools that have a scholarship scheme for the motherless?” she queried.
She also accused the FCTA of improper notification saying that the administration gave a very short time frame for people to make alternative arrangement or to move their property.
She said: “In as much as we know that this was not a permanent place and that we were squatters, government should properly notify and sensitise people before they embark on this kind of exercise. We heard that there would be demolition in BASA and Jemani villages but we were never told this place would be demolished.
“The development control people came here about 21 days ago and marked houses indiscriminately, only to come back today and start demolition within 30 minutes of arrival without giving people time to move their property.”
Speaking with journalists, a University of Abuja student, Yahaya Bello said that about 3,000 UniAbuja students were resident in Iddo Sariki because of its proximity to the campus and had been affected by the exercise.
He said, “We’re not less than 3,000 UniAbuja students living in Iddo Sariki because this area is close to our school and now we have been rendered homeless and stranded by the authorities. It is unfair that they did not consider us during this demolition.”
He further lamented that such acts were capable of frustrating youth, leading them to get involved in anti-social vices.
Another resident, Ikenna Onyefulukwe accused the district head of Iddo Sariki, Alhaji Saidu Iddo and some of the indigenes of buying houses from non-indigenes and turning them to tenants to preserve the houses from being demolished.
He said: “It is not a hidden issue, they bought many houses from the people here then they will park and go. They even priced my landlady’s house, the house I am living in presently.”
But in a swift reaction, the district head denied the allegation, challenging his accusers to come up with evidence of such deals.
He said: “If I am the person that sold the land or bought a house then which paper did I give them? The FCTA defines any land without paper as illegal and that even includes our homes, the only difference is that we are indigenes, so how could I have sold or bought houses without papers. The demolition exercise even affected us also. My borehole has been pulled down and an indigene’s house was also demolished.”
In his remarks, the director, development control department, Mr. Yahaya Yusuf said that there had been a lot of accusation from Iddo Sariki.
He said: “We’ve had a lot of accusations that there have been settlements, especially for this village, which is why I also came here directly.? In this exercise, I will not allow our officers to give room for any suspicion that we have come to engage in anything shady, we want to clean our hands from it. We are going to be thorough and not spare any house the indigenes cannot defend credibly.”
On the 21 days time frame, the director said that while the standard procedure was to give 21 days notice, the department was empowered by law to carry out demolition even before the expiration of the 21 days especially in cases illegal development.
Speaking on the demolition of schools and places of worship, Yahaya said: “We do not embark on this kind of exercise all alone. We normally come in consultation with the chief and his representatives, who will point out houses that belong to the indigenes, where they show us that the Church or school does not belong to the Indigenes but to the people already on their way out, of course we would remove it.”
He said the department would liaise with the urban and regional planning department to find out the plan for the area so the department can grade the road to allow rightful owners of plots in the area to commence development.
Yusuf urged residents to desist from buying land from local chiefs as they do not have the authority to sell or allocate land.
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