Many were left homeless following the recent scaling up times of the demolition of many slums across the FCT by the FCTA in apparent violation of the Abuja Masterplan, Olawale Ajimotokan reports
Tears creaked down many faces. There was also anger and outburst of emotion as the ruggedly built bulldozer, numbering about half a dozen, with their characteristically large tyres, blitzed through some of the marked structures in Iddo Sarki on the corridor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The bulldozer operators from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) neither exhibited signs of emotion nor broke sweat as they carried out the task.
And after seven hours, about 350 of those structures, including a church, several blocks of hostels occupied by students of the University of Abuja and many buildings, at different stages of development were flattened into a mass of debris.
However, the demolition exercise was not restricted to Iddo Sarki. Since the start of the raining season, there have been massive demolition of shanties in Mpape, Lugbe-Across, Mpape and Sabo Iddo.
About 349 illegal structures were demolished at Lugbe- Across which is also on the precinct of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The demolition exercise that lasted for several hours was codenamed “2021 mother of clean-ups”.
The scale of operation in Mpape, a shanty located on a hilltop overlooking the high-brow quarters of Maitama, where over 2,000 structures were pulled down.
However, the demolition exercise was not restricted to Iddo Sarki. Since the start of the raining season, there have been massive demolition of shanties in Mpape, Lugbe-Across, Mpape and Sabo Iddo.
About 349 illegal structures were demolished at Lugbe- Across which is also on the precinct of Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
The demolition exercise that lasted for several hours was codenamed “2021 mother of clean-ups”.
The scale of operation in Mpape, a shanty located on a hilltop overlooking the high-brow quarters of Maitama, where over 2,000 structures were pulled down was even startling.
At Iddo- Sarki, Oja Ignatius Ugu, a native of Benue State could not mask his anger over the demolition of the four-room apartment that was sheltering his wife, a 400 level student of the University of Abuja and their young daughter.
With his wife harmoniously raining curses in the background, he ripped at the FCTA for failing to compensate them after rendering them homeless.
When asked if had a genuine land document to back his claim to the land, he said the only document he had was a paper agreement he got from the indigenes that sold the land to him.
We are bona fide citizens of this country and they are treating us as animals-nothing like settlement after all the stress to build a house. How can you demolish someone’s house in the name of building on government land? Is the government not for us? This is not fair. As I am talking now, I don’t have any job and home.