By Sarah NEGEDU
After series of notices and negotiations, the FCT Administration finally made good its threats of removing illegal structures at the Utako village, ending the uncertainty surrounding the fate of squatters in the area.
Officials of the Department of Development Control last week stormed the village removing unapproved structures belonging to non-indigenes to pave way for the original allottees to regain their land.
Director of the department, Muktar Galadima, explained that the cleanup exercise was not just a routine one, but a special operation to make way for the police station as captured in the Abuja master plan.
Galadima stated that quit notices had been served the squatters long ago to enable them safely relocate from the land originally allocated to the FCT Police Command.
Earlier at a sensitization exercise to notify squatters of the demolition, the Director announced that the community would be cleaned up and handed over to the Nigerian Police to build its Utako station.
He said the police force has been given design approval to commence development on their 2 hectares’ plot.
“There was an understanding between the police force and the Indigenous Communities and FCT administration in this context the Development Control. Within the process of development some of the indigenous houses will be affected and we have met with them and resolve that some of them can stay with their kids and kinsman. While they find else will look at how the police force can accommodate them in such places.”
The demolition however turned hellish for the affected residents, as they had to compete with scavengers for their properties after the bulldozers rammed into shanties.
The scavengers who defied the presence of security operatives at the demolition site, were seen snatching different materials from their owners who obviously were overwhelmed by the pains of the demolition.
Speaking on the exercise, the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to FCT minister, Ikharo Attah said the operation was targeted at addressing perennial traffic and criminal activities in the area.
Attah, who also doused the tension generated over speculation that the homes of the indigenous people within the village would be demolished, assured that only illegal structures on the land allocated to the FCT Police Command was earmarked for demolition.
He also added that the cleanup exercise would help to restore the environmental sanitation and aesthetic of the Utako District.
“We are only removing the illegal shanties to reclaim the land for the original allottees. We are not demolishing the houses of indigenous people.
“The cleanup will also help to address the disturbing traffic gridlock and also criminal activities of miscreants in the place, Attah said.
