By Sarah NEGEDU
Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, FCTA, on Wednesday raided a notorious hideout in the Wuse Zone 3, where it recovered dangerous weapons and impounded at least 20 vehicles linked to criminal activity.
The operation, led by the Director of the Department of Development Control, Tpl. Muktar Galadima, followed fresh directives from the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to crackdown on shanties, illegal settlements, and suspected criminal hideouts across the city.
Speaking to journalists shortly after the exercise, Galadima said the area had long posed a threat to the security and visual order of the city.
“We’ve been able to identify a location that some how poses a lot of challenge to the city’s security and the city’s aesthetic quality and we’ve been able to clear the menace and even to chase some of the people with questionable character,” he said.
Galadima noted that the location was illegally occupied and not designated for residential purposes.
“Well, they’ve been residing illegally so there is nothing we can do about it but to chase them out of the place. Moreover, this place has been designated for another use. It’s not supposed to accommodate them but they were just occupying illegally.”
He said the site falls under a major road corridor in the Abuja masterplan.
“In the plan of Abuja, where we are standing now is a proposed road corridor that has been designated as the Inner Northern Expressway just like what we have as Goodluck-Ebele Jonathan Expressway.
“Following the recent directive, unlike before where we just clear and move on, now every time we clear we are going to commit it to a particular thing. What I mean is that we are going to take possession of that particular space.”
Galadima clarified that some portions of the area had been mistaken for green areas in the past but are in fact statutory plots.
“You see, this was the misconception we had before thinking that these are just green areas but looking at the scenario of today, these areas have been used and misused by people of questionable character.
“So now that it has been statutorily allocated, the owners will soon take possession of those spaces that have been demarcated.”
He said the FCTA expects the allottees to begin development immediately to prevent re-encroachment.
“I think it’s part of the administration policy that people should develop their plots within the shortest possible time. So I believe the owners of the plots will soon start developing their property.”
On the broader objective of the exercise, Galadima appealed for public understanding.
“My message is that, one, we seek their cooperation because in the process of sanitizing the city, some people will claim that we have infringed on their rights, whereas we have to make the city secured and cleaner.
“All I’m saying is that people should please give us that maximum support which we’ve been enjoying and we are still seeking for more support.”
Speaking on behalf of the Director of the Department of Security Services, Dr. Peter Olumuji, displayed the machetes recovered from the site and said the area was a known base for violent criminal attacks on commuters.
“If you look at some of these machetes I’m holding here, these are the weapons most of these criminal elements who are violating in this particular axis, normally used to attack unsuspecting passers-by and murdering public.
“From here they can go towards the National Mosque bridge and they can also access the Zone 1 bridge. So most of those complaints you hear that murdering public or passers-by complain that they are being attacked.
“When they attack them, they not only collect their valuables, they also go ahead to machete them with this. Evidences abound in the various police posts around here.”
Although no arrests were made, Olumuji said the demolition had disrupted the group’s activities.
“Yes, before we got here most of them they disappeared but from what we have done right now that we have cleared the place, they don’t even have a place to come and lay their head again and that’s why this operation is a continuous and sustained one just like the director mentioned.”
Also speaking, Head of Operations at the Directorate of Road Traffic Services, DRTS, Deborah Osho, confirmed that 20 abandoned vehicles were towed from the area.
“We have about 20 vehicles impounded. Not only impounded, they were towed from this place. Those vehicles are some of the things used for all these miscarriages. They use them, some of them are not even movable.”
“They use them to have an edge, to use them to commit their atrocities.”
When asked if some of the vehicles were linked to “one chance” operations, she said: “Yes, some of them are being used for one chance. So most of them are being towed, not even driven. So we have about 20 vehicles with us and as you can see we’ve been able to clear this place of all abandoned vehicles.”
She said owners will face steep penalties to reclaim the vehicles.
“We are not going to crush them, but they are going to pay heavily for their vehicles to be given back to them, and those before they will leave, we are going to commit them that they are not going to come back here again.”
