Some residents of Abuja have accused the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nysom Wike of allegedly grabbing their land for his rich cronies.
The aggrieved individuals alongside human rights activists during a protests on Friday, lambasted Wike for “grabbing land in communities dominated by poor people”.
Human rights activist, Mr Deji Adeyanju, who was among the protesters speaking during the protests, urged President Bola Tinubu to stop the FCT minister from implementing wicked policies that keep displacing hundreds of residents from their homes.
He said Wike’s “land grabbing policies will further exacerbate insecurity in the Federal Capital Territory”.
The lawyer said, “They are dismayed and they are worried that efforts to grab this land are more pressing and it is more unrelenting. Just like we have said earlier, we are appealing to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to prevail on the FCT minister to release poor people’s lands to them. Poor people’s lands belong to the poor people.
“If they are badly in need of land to grab, they should go to Asokoro, Maitama Extension, and Guzape. There are many places to grab land. Why will you come to the poor to grab land so that you can give it to the rich? It will increase insecurity in the country.”
Also, social media activist, Martins Vincent Otse, aka VeryDarkMan while addressing newsmen during the protest said, “In this bad economy, with the price of dollars, with the price of foodstuffs, and you did not create a place for them to stay. This is craziness, wickedness and it is not fair. This act will cause a very great insecurity”.
Recall that for some weeks now, Wike has been demolishing houses in the Lugbe area of Abuja.
The victims of the demolition exercise accused the former governor of Rivers State of not giving them any prior notice.
In a video, some of the victims were seen lamenting the injustice done to them by the minister.
“We saw the development control; they came here and the next thing they started removing houses. There was no prior notice,” one of the victims said.
“They didn’t tell us anything; all we heard was that the minister was interested in the place and that they said they should remove anything that is existing there.
“We have a layout which the director of development control signed his approval on. I don’t know why they are doing that. They did it in Centenary City and for 14 years, we have been going for relocation and up till now, we have not gotten it, but if they are interested in a layout, they do it within one month”.