Wike pledges to continue Abuja demolitions despite protests

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has said his administration will not be deterred by blackmail from civil society organisations and activists, calling for a cessation of demolition exercises in the city.

The minister made the statement following a visit to the demolished Ruga settlement alongside heads of security agencies in the FCT, following a security council meeting on Sunday evening.

The PUNCH reports that some of the settlers, joined by human rights lawyer, Deji Adeyanju, and controversial social media critic, Vincent Martins Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan, on Friday, protested the demolition carried out by the Department of Development Control, calling for the intervention of President Bola Tinubu.

Wike, however, said the administration was only interested in protecting lives and property in the FCT and ensuring that Abuja was one of the best cities in the world.

“I must also say that no amount of blackmail, no amount of intimidation, no amount of abuses; we must go around to do our jobs.

“It doesn’t matter who they go and hire, they call them civil society or not civil society, we are not interested in that.

“Our interest is to protect lives and property, to safeguard Abuja so that it will be one of the best cities in the world,” he said.

The minister asked the residents not to rebuild any structures in the area, whether temporary or permanent until the government had decided on a course of action, adding that some other shanties across the city would be demolished and converted into new bus terminals for orderliness.

“As far as this road is concerned, we have told them nobody is going to build anything, whether temporary or permanent. We will not allow them until the government has made a final decision on what to do on this piece of land.

“As of yesterday being Saturday, you may not believe it, myself, the Director of Land and Development Control, we went round, we saw so many shanties, so many areas that they converted to bus stops and the rest.

“And we have decided that some of these areas will be converted to new bus terminals, and such shanties will be demolished to allow for good environment, orderliness and for people to carry out their businesses,” he added.

Wike also directed that five representatives of the residents should meet with the heads of security agencies and the directors of Land and Development Control, to give recommendations to the administration on what should be done.

Speaking earlier, the spokesperson for the settlers, Abba Garu, pleaded with the minister to provide shelter for them, noting that the latest demolition exercise carried out in the previous week made the 22nd demolition by successive administrations.

“We are not dragging anything with the government that we own the land, but we are pleading, please and please, honourable minister, this environment you are seeing is like a mini Nigeria; every tribe you check is here because we are lower class people living around.

“We are seeking from the honourable minister’s office to help and assist us, to give us a shelter where we can reside with our people.

“This place you are seeing, Mr Honourable Minister, we are over 10,000 people in this community. We have four axes. Our people don’t drag with whatever government wants to do with their land, but we are Nigerians,” he said.