‘Our political representatives are largely spineless and useless in situations like this. Some of them are enablers of the sustained assault on us and all that is ours. They’ve sacrificed us at the altar of politics in exchange for guaranteed reelections. It is why we must rise up and fight for ourselves as one people. Elections are around the corner, we must boo those who have failed woefully and woo those with solid track records to come forth and replace them’
THERE is no better way to begin this than with a syllogism: to disregard the law is a crime, people who break the laws of the land are called criminals, so when people refer to Attah as a criminal they are merely stating a fact.
Do you know that there’s a court order that forbids the FCTA, the FCT minister and any other agency from demolishing any structure, even the illegal ones, without following due process as laid down by the Nigerian Urban and Regional Planning Act 2004? The NURP Act requires that an enforcement notice be communicated in writing to the affected developer stating reasons for the proposed action by the controlling agency. The owner of the property is then given 21 days to comply with the order before a demolition takes place. There are other steps to be observed as enshrined under sections 47, 48, 50, 53, 55, 56, 57, 61, 62, and 63 of the NURP Act before any agency demolishes any structure, even the illegal ones. I can categorically report that Attah and his gang have consistently disregarded these steps with sagastic impunity in most of their shenanigans. This, plus the brutalisation of anyone who questions them, makes them a band of gangsters doing the bidding of evil politicians and greedy land grabbers.
They always claim to have served notices to the affected communities before demolishing those places, but in 2017 some victims of their lawlessness took the matter to court, no one from the minister to the FCDA and Development and Control could produce evidence that they followed due process. In a 70-page judgement, justice Abubakar Kutigi held that the demolition was illegal and unlawful for failing to abide by the NURP Act. The suit marked CV/3998/2012 for those who may want to read the judgement.
There abound several circumstances that’s made us believe that the incessant demolition of some villages and the callous dehumanisation of the people of Abuja is a calculated scheme by land grabbers, hyenas masquerading as activists, and enabled by our spineless politicians to completely push us out of the FCT.
Number one is FCDA’s impunity. From time immemorial, the Federal Capital Development Authority (serving as proxy to the Federal Capital Territory Administration) has acted without recourse to the law or due process. I mentioned in a recent article how the law-abiding people of Maitama were forcefully evicted from their ancestral land without compensation. There’s more to that story but before I tell it, let me tell you about a village known as Akpmajenya.
AKPMAJENYA is a village close to Apo. Like the Maitama people, they were approached to move from there to some other place. They agreed but insisted that all promises made to them under the compensation agreement must be fulfilled first before they move. The FCDA argued that they have to leave first but the people countered that by citing communities that had agreed to such arrangements and are yet to receive compensation many decades later. The community got a court order preventing FCDA from doing anything in that village until all compensation promises have been met. As usual, FCDA ignored the court order and moved into the community at 3am. Yes, you read that right!
Attah and his gangsters crept into Akpmajenya at 3am and bulldozed the entire village. They tear-gassed and beat up the youths like they always do. Attah claimed that the village was on a road path, as per the Abuja Masterplan. Fast forward to this day, no road has been constructed there, instead building foundations are springing up there. The plausible explanation would be that those villagers were bulldozed to give way to some wealthy developer.
In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Attah lied that they followed due process in Kubwa by repeatedly serving notice to owners of the demolished buildings. I challenge him and his goons to produce proof of notices served. In the same breath he said that he and his men received calls from some people to visit Kubwa for demolition, he then went on to say that it is their goal to encourage people to move into the Maitama market with its unaffordable shops. Attah’s utterances lends credence to the allegations that some powerful people in cahoots with the management of the market paid him and his gangster to destroy the shops and houses that they pulled down in Maitama. After all, where did they get the cash that was shared amongst themselves after the operation? Oh yes, money was shared to the policemen for a job well done that day. When they noticed that the people they had brutalised and dragged to Eagles’ Square from Kubwa were watching them, one of the officers angrily ordered for them to be taken away; in his words, “how can we share this money in front of them?”
On Thursday, during a meeting between the people of Maitama and FCDA, Attah reiterated the lies he has been mouthing: that the buildings they demolished were shanties; that they are only reinforcing the administration’s fidelity to Abuja the Masterplan, and that all structures without certificate of occupancy will be eventually pulled down as they are illegal. My uncle, Hon. Musa Dikko utilised that opportunity to educate him about the history of Maitama in particular and Abuja at last. Attah then claimed to be ignorant of that history but I don’t believe him, you see. He used to be a journalist, I hear, and I don’t see how a well-trained journo can claim ignorance of the phoney resettlement perpetrated by the same people who are today his paymasters. We have video evidence that shows how he destroyed buildings that the government forced us into. The Development and Control office in Kubwa under whose purview the affected buildings fall was not aware of the plan to destroy those buildings. The saddest thing is that the owners of those buildings had sought and gotten approvals from FCDA before erecting those structures. Upon completion, FCDA had visited and ascertained that there were no violations. Again, Attah claimed that he didn’t know that the owners had FCDA approvals. How could he possibly know when he considers them as lesser humans incapable of questioning him!
Here’s a shocking revelation. Since they forced us out of Maitama to Kubwa, we’ve begged, cried and groveled for the government to give us C of O to the small place that they assigned to us. Successive governments have turned deaf ears to our requests. Many years ago we heard of a plan to force us out of Kubwa, this time around, to some place outside Abuja. We didn’t believe it until forcefully taking our community lands. First, our last farmland was sold to someone called Hamza who then sold it to Dantata who in turn built a large estate on it. We moved to the Kubwa mountain to till it for food. Again, the entire place was sold to a quarry company that’s now breaking it for granite. Right now, our fathers and uncles have no place to farm and that’s the only thing they know how to do. Secondly, the land that was given to us to serve as a cemetery is gradually being grabbed. Any rich man could fetch to his fill then grease some palms at AIGES and FCDA, next thing a structure appears. When our youths protest, armed policemen are sent to brutalize and lock them up.
In 2014, we got a couple of resolutions passed by the National Assembly in our favour. I will spare you the rigmarole of the hearing itself. The Senate agreed with us that the Federal government through FCDA has not treated us fairly. The resolution, among other things, asked the FCDA to give us some part of the developed areas in Abuja so that we too can benefit from the high value of land; that we should be provided with extension land to use for agricultural purposes – that skill acquisition centres should be opened to empower our youths. The legislators vehemently condemned the misappropriation and reallocation of lands meant for us. There are more, please find attached the letter sent to the then minister of FCT containing the resolution of the National Assembly. None of those things have been done till today.
Oh wait, I didn’t tell you that some staff of the FCDA reallocated the plots of lands and houses meant for us to their lovers, kinsmen and business associates? Now I have.
Attah claims to want to sanitise the FCT of criminals and slums. Okay. I’d like answers to the following questions:
1 – how are you sanitising crime when your actions increase the population of desperate, homeless and unemployed youths in the FCT?
2 – how come you’re not starting with the criminals in FCDA who give questionable permits and facilitate land racketeering?
3 – how come some of the villages you demolished to make way for road construction or some public project are now turning into estate grounds?
4 – your actions in Kubwa increased criminal activities exponentially in the days that followed, is it that you don’t study the effect of your efforts to see that it’s achieving the exact opposite of what you say is your goal?
THE WAY FORWARD
“I don’t advocate violence; but if a man steps on my toes, I’ll step on his…” Malcolm X.
The time for begging for what is ours is gone. We must now demand and where possible, forcefully retrieve what is ours. This is only achievable when we build powerful communities. And that’s what we shall do. We cannot continue to play by the rules of the very people who oppress us if we genuinely desire freedom.
I have no qualms against violence when push comes to shove. You will not smack me repeatedly in the face then expect me to pray for you. No, I’ll cut off your hand or even send you to the morgue if I can. This is what we must do going forward, put all options on the table.
We also need to hold our political leaders accountable. They are part of our suffering today. They who are supposed to serve as negotiators for us prefer to play to the gallery in a bid not to offend anyone. Those who have the voice are busy partying or singing songs in one church or another. I’ll give you an example.
The Chief of Maitama has been trying to meet with Senator Aduda over these injustices for some years now all to no avail. Both the senator and our house of rep member have no business with our area unless during campaign season. With all the misfortune that befell the people of Maitama and Kubwa this year, none of these men have as much as visited or spoken with our elders about any of the issues. But yesterday, Senator Aduda drove past Kubwa to attend a wedding in Dakwa then drove past us again to attend a graduation ceremony at a theological college. Clearly, religious appearances and wedding parties are of greater significance to him than the protection of the dignity of the people he’s supposed to serve. Such a shame!
Our political representatives are largely spineless and useless in situations like this. Some of them are enablers of the sustained assault on us and all that is ours. They’ve sacrificed us at the altar of politics in exchange for guaranteed reelections. It is why we must rise up and fight for ourselves as one people. Elections are around the corner, we must boo those who have failed woefully and woo those with solid track records to come forth and replace them.
It is not just enough for us to be sad and cry. We must get angry and do something. And the first point of order is to act as a united, indivisible force. To achieve this, we must bring together our scattered communities so as to make them more powerful. Then we must hold our leaders accountable instead of thanking them for partially doing their duties. This culture of enduring and respecting political leaders irrespective of how ineffectual they have been must end now.
I suggest that all those who have been affected by this lawlessness should come together and fight this as one. We should not sue or act as individuals. We have no other choice but to come together. Let us get in touch.
I’ll leave you all with the golden counsel by Malcolm X:
Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it’s against the oppressor. You don’t need anything else.
*Teejay Dan, writer, literary activist and filmmaker, writes from Abuja
