Contrary to the popular saying that the law is blind, officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), penultimate week proved that the law also has a human face.
The officials disproved the popular saying when they spared the house of a woman who had given birth to a baby girl seven days before a demolition exercise in Gishiri village, Katampe Extension, in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Mrs Mercy Ezekiel, a resident of Gishiri gave birth to her baby girl through Caesarean operation few days before officials of the development control department of the FCTA swooped on the village to demolish structures which they termed illegal.
Speaking to journalists, Mrs Ezekiel said news of impending demolition got to her at the hospital while she was still recuperating after the birth of the baby.
“I heard that officials of the FCTA came and marked some houses but when I came back from the hospital, I looked around but did not see any mark for demolition on our house. So, I assumed that the houses that were not marked would not be affected by the exercise,” she explained.
Other residents of the settlement, who were affected by the demolition exercise, complained that indigenes of the village had assured them that the village would not be demolished, hence their decision to build and rent houses there.
A tenant, Ibeneme Chika, said that most of the property owners in the village bought land from one Hajiya Adebayo, an indigene of the village, with the assurance that there would be no demolition until after the general elections in 2015.
“I’m a tenant and I moved in here only in September 2013. The person I rented the house from told me he bought the land from Hajiya. This Hajiya is the one that has been selling the whole land in this vicinity. Even though she informed residents that the sale is temporal, she assured them that there is no problem with the land for now until after the 2015 general election. So, people rushed to buy these lands.”
A landlord in the area, Pastor Akpos Felix Oga of the Anointed House of Victory, also said he bought and built with the assumption that they could live there without disturbance till 2017.
“I bought this land measuring 50 by 50 from Hajiya and built some living rooms for members of my church which I later rented out at the rate of N150,000 for the self-contain rooms. Even though the land was sold to us temporarily as we were told the rightful owners with allocation papers for it would come for it later, we were assured that we would be here for at least four years before they come to take ownership of the land,” he lamented.
Hajiya Adebayo however denied all the allegations, saying she didn’t sell land to anyone but only collects rent from them.
“I did not sell the land to them. I rent it out to thoise who want to build and we contribute and build and share the proceeds from rent,” she said.
The district officer of Katampe, Kalu Amadi, described the situation where individuals sell government land under the pretext of village expansion without the necessary requirements for the process as unfortunate.
While noting that the act is criminal, he advised residents to seek redress with law enforcement agencies since the FCTA does not handle criminal matters.
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