Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has demolished residential structures obstructing the Jabi-Dakibu road corridor in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
The senior special assistant to the FCT minister on monitoring, inspection and enforcement, Ikharo Attah, who led the demolition exercise at the Idu area in collaboration with the Department of Development Control, security services, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and all relevant security agencies.
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The minister’s aide decried the rate at which people encroach on road corridors in Abuja and said the minister is very sad and would continue to reclaim the road corridor from the illegal squatters.
“We are reclaiming the road corridor where people built and encroached upon. The land is exhaustible when people finish selling land, then they start selling the road corridor,” he said.
Responding to the complaint of the residents that they contributed N10,000 to dissuade FCT staff from removing their illegal structures, Attah said, “It is a sad irony, once your place is marked for removal just pack and move to another place, no single indigene is here now.”
“The FCT minister Malam Muhammad Bello has warned us against taking a bribe from anybody and today we have come to remove it and the person who collected the money is not here. Those who gave bribes are already weeping and trying to pack their things.
“I will advise them not to give bribes and not to build on the road corridor again. Those who contributed N10,000 each and gave to the chief for onward transmission to us should go back to the chief because we do not take bribes,” he said.
He said the indigene always denied selling land to them but what they sold to them were farmlands so he urged Abuja residents to stop buying lands from the locals.
One of the affected residents, Ms Blessing who was in tears, said she bought the house in January 2023 for N1.4 million.
“I just bought this house in January for N1.4 million, from the former owner who has relocated abroad. I do not have anywhere I can go; I was at work when my neighbour phoned me that they have demolished my house,” she said.
Esara from Akwa Ibom State said he had been living in the area for 12 years, revealing that his former place was demolished so he moved to Dakibu to rent.