Seventeen years, after the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) demolition team first visited Gishiri, a community within Katampe District of the Federal Capital City (FCC) as the FCT Administration (FCTA), the team, on Wednesday, made good a second visit to cleanse the area of bad eggs.
The team moved its bulldozers into the area to carry out demolition of several illegal structures that were sitting on land meant for infrastructure development.
Nigerian Anchor gathered that the structures had been marked in March, April and early May in 2023.
But most of the residents, however, feigned ignorance of the several notices, feeling that it would never be carried out like it happened when the demolition team, first, visited in 2006.
Since then, the residents continued to build on high power tension and water channels despite warnings from the government.
Unknown to the residents, the demolition meant business on Wednesday, and they were caught unawares, as there was pandemonium and tears from the residents.
“I parked into this area in March 2022, and just renewed my rent in March 2023, which cost N400,000.00. Where can I park now? If I had known, I wouldn’t have come to this area,” one of the female victims, who spoke under anonymity said.
The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Minister of FCT on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Ikharo Attah, said that the demolition was necessitated by the need to reclaim the place for infrastructure development.
He said that the victims took advantage of the proximity of the area to the FCC, and flouted the Abuja Master Plan rules, turning the area into a haven for bad eggs.
Attah regretted that some of the unauthorised structures in the area were hideouts for drug dealers and suspected criminals that terrorise mostly Maitama and Asokoro residents in the city.
“We came here today to attack the triple illegalities associated with squatter settlements, the criminals’ den inside the cashew plantation in Gishiri, where we recovered cocaine and other hard drugs.
“Although there were tears and lamentations, we are not done yet as we are just getting warm up in Gishiri, and this is the first time the bulldozers came into Gishiri, since the days of Mallam Nasiru Ahmed El-rufai as FCT Minister.
“The team from Development Control is firing from all cylinders, even as those of us who are political appointees are going, we are sure that when we leave, the team on ground is set to continue the city clean up exercise,” he said.
The Director, the Department of Development Control, Murkhtar Galadima, after the demolition, said that the exercise, which was the mother of all demolitions, was to rid the city of illegal structures.
“The clean-up exercise is to rid the city of illegal structures. When you see demolition like, this is because of the magnitude of illegal structures in this particular area. Over 10 years ago, we have been marking and removing (structures), but no headway. But today, we got a headway.
“This area is a water pipeline corridor coming from lower Usman Dam to various tanks in town. Some of the buildings are on flood plain. This demolition is (the) mother of all demolitions because it contains everything. Any land that is not approved by Development Control is illegal, and therefore, will be removed,” he said.
