OlawaleAjimotokan in Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has cautioned members of the public not to buy land from Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), living in Abuja.
The admonition was issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement to the FCT Minister, Ikharo Attah after the enforcement team removed illegal structures behind the Old Federal Secretariat at Area I, Garki, Abuja.
He said some people were paying as much as N100,000 to the internally displaced persons for swampy land infested with snakes and reptiles around the perimeter fence of the Old Federal Secretariat.
He said the authority realized that many of the illegal structures had been in the area for many years.
“These structures are built within swamps and water bed and within fence. What is very painful is that you cannot come here, until in the peak of the dry season. Even our machines here are sinking and despite the fact that there has not been rain in over four months. So you can imagine if it were during raining season, that means once there is a single rain fall you cannot access this place,” Attah said.
He vowed the authority will prosecute those selling illegal lands in the territory saying the enforcement team has the mandate of the FCT Minister Malam Muhammad Bello to arrest those allowing the crime and illegality to thrive.
One of the residents affected by the exercise, Ifie Samuel, said he had lived in the area for over six months.
A menial worker in one of the nearby plazas, Samuel said one of his friends, who had been living in the area for over 10 years, brought him there.
“I bought a land in 2019 but started building in 2020 and moved in 2021. I brought water into this community. I connected the water from the Water Board and it is registered. I paid close to N600,000 to connect the water. When I bought the land they did not tell me the land was illegal. They told me it was an IDP camp and there was no access road to this place. Those selling the land said they are from Gosa. To be sincere I didn’t spend less than N1.2 million to build the house,” Samuel said.
The FCTA moved in the bulldozers after it issued a demolition notice to the owners last month, followed with a reminder on March 1, asking the squatters to vacate the place.
