The Federal Capital Territory Administration on Saturday demolished 134 houses in Apo Akpmajenya community to allow for the construction of a major road network in the area.
The Chairman, FCT Ministerial Task Force on City Sanitation, Mr Ikharo Attah, who coordinated the exercise, said the FCTA Minister, Mallam Muhammad Bello, was desirous of “safeguarding the fidelity of the Abuja master plan.”
Attah said the FCTA satisfied all the requirements of the law before carrying out the exercise.
The Director, Department of Development Control, FCTA, Mallam Muhktar Galadima, explained that the community had been marked for demolition since January.
He said the relevant government agencies had engaged the residents and sensitised them on the need to leave the area because it fell within the corridor of the Outer Southern Expressway and one of the road interchanges linking Oladipo Diya Road, an arterial road, with the Outer Southern Expressway.
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However, the residents disagreed with the authorities and condemned the demolition, especially its timing with several of them telling Channels TV that some people were asleep when the crew arrived. They also said they were brutalised and tear-gassed.
Spokesman for the FCT natives, Yunusa Yusuf, insisted that the residents were not given adequate notice before the exercise was carried out.
According to him, the expected procedure is for the Department of Development Control of the FCDA to give a notice about the demolition.
“This is the same government that has not been able to stop kidnapping, they have not been able to handle security, but, today, they can bring up to 300 security men to surround this community. It is very unfortunate. This is not what we expect,” Yusuf lamented.
