Abuja residents shocked by sudden demolition Some residents of Court of Appeal Estate II in Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja got the shock of their lives on Saturday as bulldozers from the Department of Development Control pulled down their buildings without notice. Those affected were living along railway corridors in the area. A woman affected by the demolition sits down forlornly. An eye witness, Kingsley Ohen, who is a younger brother to one of the victims, said he received a distress call from his sister that their building was being pulled down. “When I arrived at my sister’s house, I was shocked at what was going on in the area. I met her devastated and confused due to the suddenness of the demolition. As you can see, everybody is running around due to confusion caused by their sudden appearance,” Kingsley said. Although he agreed that they were given until this August to vacate the area, no actual date was given and residents assumed that it would be the last day in August. Mrs. Justina Acha, one of the victims, said, “I was cooking, when members of the development control arrived our estate with bulldozers and mobile policemen and announced to us that they areto pull down our buildings. Wewere confused and begged them to give us more time to vacate since we are still in August but they refused and started demolishing our houses,” she said. When asked if they were properly notified of the demolition date and compensated, Mrs. Acha said they paid N5.5 million to owners of 2-bedroom flats and N6 million to owners of 3-bedroom flats. She claimed, however, that they were underpaid as that amount was not enough for such houses anywhere within Kubwa. Some other victims where unable to speak with Nigerian Telegraph as they were all busy salvaging what they could of their property before the buildings were finally pulled down. When contacted, officials of the Development Control carrying out the demolition exercise said that the demolition commenced yesterday afternoon but declined further comments. They referred Nigerian Telegraph to their office for more comments on the matter. Meanwhile, Mr. Nathaniel Temije, an assistant director, Monitoring and Enforcement said, on Friday, that all buildings on the railway corridors would be removed to pave way for ongoing construction of rail lines in the territory
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 20:47:34 +0000
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