Demolitions In FCT: Show Of Power Or Robbing Peter To Settle Paul?

Many Nigerians residing in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as non-indigenes have been at the receiving end of series of demolitions carried out by Ministers, administration after administration. While some were rendered homeless mostly without notice and unexpectedly, some lost their lives as a result of the exercise, with others losing their properties and sources of livelihood. NaijaNewsBreak takes a look at past demolitions in the city and the present scenerio. 

When the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, assumed office in Abuja, he didn't leave anyone in doubt as to what is to come under his administration. 

He declared that toes will be stepped upon and he will not shy away from demolishing any structure that has violated the FCT master plan. 

Issuing the threat barely three hours after his inauguration and assumption into office as the FCT Minister on Monday, 21st August 2023, Wike said "All those people who are distorting the Masterplan of Abuja, too bad. If you know you have built where you are not supposed to build, it will go down.

“Be you a Minister of anywhere, be you an ambassador, if you know you have developed where you were not supposed to develop, your house must go down. Those who have taken over the green areas to build, sorry, our parks must come back, the green areas must come back. If you hate green, you must hate yourself,” Wike stated.

Few days after the declaration, Wike was said to have approved demolition of Garki, Jabi and other 28 slums which have earlier been surveyed by the Federal Capital Development Authority before this administration.

The demolitions, according to the FCTA, will affect about 6,000 buildings which have been marked in an effort to rid the territory of shanties and illegal structures.

The FCTA said the demolition will affect 30 areas across the Federal Capital Territory.

True to his declaration, Wike, in the past eight months in office as Minister, has embarked on some very impactful demolitions in the FCT. 

In the process, some Nigerians have already been rendered homeless in the city, with many left with no option than to relocate out of the FCT. 

Still in August when he resumed office, Wike's first demolition was an 'unapproved structure' at Wuse Zone 6.

A Bulldozer of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) demolished the multimillion naira duplex built on Plot 226, in Wuse Zone 6, which was described as an unapproved land. 

Mr Mukhtar Gidado, Director, Department of Development Control, said that the building was illegally developed against all warnings.

Gidado also claimed that his team had carried out extensive investigation to ascertain the original owner of the plot. 

Angered by the demolition, the land owner, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Kamba, charged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, and the Director of Development Control to court for demolishing his building under construction at Plot 226, Cotonou Street, Wuse Zone 6, Abuja.

A statement by his lawyer, Okechukwu .C. Uju-Azorji, an associate of Festus Keyamo Chambers, had said “The plot itself belonged to the predecessor in title of our client, Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Kamba, who had built a guest house (popularly called “Boys’ Quarters”) on the Plot where he was collecting rent for upwards of 25 years before selling and handing over possession to our client in 2019. 

"Alhaji Mohammed Ibrahim Kamba in turn bought the property during the lifetime of the original allottee, Oyebade Lipede.

“When our client commenced the development of the Plot including the renovation of the existing guest house, a certain Abuja-based legal practitioner took out a Direct Criminal Complaint against our client at the Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja for trespass, claiming that the property belonged to Oyebade Lipede, the late Alake of Egbaland. 

"The suit was dismissed on 1/9/2020 with the Grade 1 Area Court Judge specifically urging the parties to refer the matter to FCT High Court since it has become issue of title to land." he added 

Also in September 2023, the Wike-led administration also demolished the popular Kilishi market located in the Area 1 area of Abuja. 

A notice by the Federal Capital Territory Administration, before the demolition had claimed that the attachment shops, other illegal constructions, and parking lots had made the roads around the complex impassable. 

Unperturbed, the FCT Minister continued with his plan and in October 2023 ordered the demolition of a scavengers’ colony along the road corridor cutting across Mabushi, Jahi and Kado Districts.

Wike had described the colony, located behind the Minister’s Quarters in Mabushi District, as a “threat” to the security of the city.

The area had been taken over by scavengers popularly known as ‘Baban Bola’, including mechanics and furniture makers.

In January this year, Wike embarked on demolition of houses in a community, Nuwalege village, near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport.

The demolition, which was said to have rendered more than 500 people and families homeless, was allegedly carried out to provide space for Presidential fleet. 

Worried by the spate of demolitions, the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, had rejected the demolition exercises being carried out by Wike in the capital city of Abuja. 

It had claimed that the exercise was targeted principally at the poor working class in the FCT.

Describing the exercise as improper in an interview, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said the workers the government ought to provide houses for but failed to do so, are now witnessing such tragedy from the Wike’s administration. 

One of the latest demolitions in the FCT, have however brought another dimension to the process. 

Besides the owner of the structure bringing ethnic colouration into the matter, he alleged that the FCT Minister demolished his property without court order 

The allegation came from Anambra politician and businessman, Chief Nicholas Ukachukwu, whose property in Asokoro, Abuja was demolished on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. 

Ukachukwu, who is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the SNECOU Group Limited accused Wike of ordering the demolition of his investment on 214 hectares of land in the Asokoro district of the city centre because it was owned by an Igbo man, and not because the company violated any law, as all legal titles had been sorted and obtained before commencing development of the property.

Ukachukwu said: “Wike called for a meeting over the land, we went with our documents after seeing what we had with our lawyer and other company, Sunrise which they gave part of that land. Wike said that there is nothing on this that the court should take its effect.

"After going around the land, in his normal ways of behaviour, Wike started shouting; how will they take all this land and give it to an Igbo man? Then, the next thing we saw was the demolition of the buildings without a court order.”

Apart from all the legal titles of the property duly obtained including two ministerial approvals, Ukachukwu said letters were also obtained from the immediate past FCT Minister, Mohammed Musa Bello.

“We went through all due process including ministerial approval. We have the full final title document, letter of offer and Certificate of Occupancy.

“As I’m talking to you, we have not received any document revoking the property or even the reason for the demolition. The only thing we saw was the demolition, the title has not been revoked and we have not been served any notice.”

He added, “Two separate courts issued a different court order restraining him from tampering or doing anything in that property but all of a sudden Wike now moved all the ‘caterpillars’ (bulldozers) in Abuja and went and started pulling down those properties that we have invested billions into.

“I am calling on Mr President, who I know has nothing to do with it to call Wike to order or remove this man before he brings disdain to his administration."

But when speaking on the issue, the FCT Minister, declared that the property has no ministerial approval

Wike said that he didn’t see any court order restraining the ministry from entering the property.

Describing Ukachukwu as an “ethnic jingoist”, he said the land allocated to Ukachukwu did not have the approval of any minister as claimed.

He said, “I have been doing this before. I will continue to do it. And nothing will happen,” he bragged, adding, “Criminals are criminals. They may come in different ways.”

“I have never seen people like land-grabbing people in this place. I came in (and met) so many petitions. One company came with different petitions, with different owners of properties.

“I summoned all of them. They came with their lawyers – senior advocates. And I said, ‘what is this?’ Companies presented their own cases. Company A presented their own case, Company B presented their own, Company C, Company D, Company E. 

"I said okay, I’m going to seek advice from external solicitors. I’m not going to take advice from insiders … because the biggest (fraud) is that the land department has been compromised. I sought the views of senior lawyers and told them, we need to do things differently.

“This land that this so-called ethnic jingoist talked about was allocated when there was no minister. The minister left on May 29, 2023. By June, the land was allocated by the director of lands.

“We all met and agreed that nobody should do anything on the land until we were able to take a final decision. You know what happened? These guys thought they were too smart and they started selling the land.”

“You see these guys (some officials in FCTA) are conniving with the plaintiff against the FCTA. I’ve never seen people who are so fraudulent like this! What they do here. They sued you, they sued me as FCT minister.

“They have court judgments in their pocket. I told him you are wasting time. His brother sent me a text message. I have never met his brother but he sent me a message saying, ‘You told your Ikwerre brothers you will deal with Igbos in FCT’. Imagine such.

“Why do we behave like this in this country? We keep doing the same thing and expect different results. If you transfer a director, he would say, ‘Oh! It’s because I am Hausa! If you transfer another one, he would say, ‘It’s because I am a Muslim’, but why?” he added. 

These are just a few of the demolitions the city has witnessed in the past eight months. 

Before Wike, some of the past FCT Ministers carried out demolitions in the FCT in a ruthless manner without respect for human feelings and mostly disregarding court orders. 

They failed to make adequate alternative arrangements to ameliorate the impact of the demolitions on the residents, despite knowing that majorly of those been affected were government workers in the city. 

While demolition of structures under the immediate past Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello and Sen Bala Mohammed can be said to be at a very low ebb, the same cannot be said for the administrations of Aliyu Modibbo and Nasir El-Rufai as FCT Ministers. 

Under El-Rufai, apart from many residents rendered homeless, some of them were sent to their early graves as they couldn't bear the pain of the loss of their life-savings structures been pulled down by government's caterpillars. 

Aliyu Modibbo's tenure was also very impactful and painful on the lives of some FCT residents. 

Surprisingly, many of the structures pulled down under El-Rufai and Modibbo in the name of retuning the city to the masterplan, were left untouched for many years after rendering people homeless. 

The so called indigenes and  village Chiefs, who sold the land in the first instance to non-indigenes, had to move in again to the demolished areas and start selling them afresh to unsuspecting Nigerians, who again erected new structures in the areas, standing at the mercy of another future government demolition. 

While this was going on and on in the satellite villages in the FCT for many years, there were allegations that the demolitions were mostly done to look for land for the high and mighty in the society including Federal lawmakers, politicians, friends and cronies of the ministers. 

It is hoped that Wike will pause a bit and deviate from the past ruthless demolitions in the FCT. If any demolition at all, let it be done in a way that will reduce the pains of the affected people. 

Let him concentrate more on putting structures and facilities in place that will truly add value to the Federal Capital Territory. 

The high number of structures demolished and high number of FCT residents rendered homeless and sent back to their hometowns will never be the correct yardstick for measuring his success at the end of his tenure in the FCT.

Also just as Senator Ireti Kingibe, who is representing the FCT in the Senate has advised, let him take a holistic view of the whole situation, chart a new course for stability, growth, and progress of the FCT. 

What should be most paramount in his mind and actions is to make the FCT a second to none capital city in Africa, in all ramifications.