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Planned raid: Give us alternative, we just want to survive, Abuja squatters tell Wike
Squatters under the threat of evacuation by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), are asking the government to provide alternative accommodations for them, as their decisions to remain in their present abodes, were not borne out of choice, but the harsh economic situation in Nigeria.
They also warned that forcefully removing them without a new place to stay could result to negative impacts on the society, even though they also acknowledged the dangers associated with their present situation.
The response came in an encounter between them and officials of the FCT, who issued an on-week notice to vacate their current abodes at the Garki, Wuse II, Maitama and Wuse Districts of Abuja, where hundreds of them are presently taking refuge under the bridges.
Officials who asked them to immediately leave or face the wrath of the law, had argued that though some of the affected places were supposed to be green spots, they were virtually turned into where people stay in slums and carry out nefarious activities in the city.
Led by Fred Kpakol, Senior Special Assistant on Environmental and Waste Management to the Minister of the FCT, had while decrying that the invasion under bridges had become an eyesore, adding that the constant burning of items with firewood, would not only affect their lifespan but eventually bring about the collapse of the bridges.
Together with officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), he had tried to sensitise the squatters on the looming health and security threats, saying they were prone to diseases and death within such places and its environs.
Warning them to leave as the government intended to carry out Operation Storm to clear the bridges, he said: “The full arm of the law will be invoked, that is why we have given them one week to be out of these places because we are going to be moving from place to place, and make sure that things are put in the right where they are supposed to be.
“You are aware of the prevailing kidnappings and other atrocities people commit from different places and run under the bridges, taking refuge under the slums there, which is unacceptable. The government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is out to give the people a renewed-hope, through the instrumentalities in the hands of the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, who is prepared to make the city clean, and for this city to be clean, slums like this has to be taking care of.
“Because the security of this city is very important as the face of Nigeria, and we cannot deface the country, we want to warn on a very strong note that any human being that comes here to stay must leave. If you have the capacity or potential to do something in the city, then you take up what is right for you to do, and stay, not just to come and look at anywhere to stay and become a nuisance to the society. It is totally unacceptable, and we have given them one week, within which we will come and evacuate them from these places.
“This government has a human face that is why we want to appeal to them, by speaking to their conscience that there is no need to lose hope or feel that if they don’t have anything to do, then they stay under bridges. This is a suicidal mission, as there could be an outbreak of an epidemic that could consume all of them.
Also, on the appeal for the government to provide an alternative place for the displaced persons to relocate to, Kpakol said the government cannot do everything, but there are agencies of government that they can reach out to, for possible intervention.
Echoing the same position, Deputy Director Monitoring and Enforcement, AEPB, Kaka Bello, reiterated that at the expiration of notice served, enforcement will be carried out with relevant agencies at some of the bridges on Ahmadu Bello Way, Ademola Adetokumbo Way, Wuse II and the Parkway, along the Wuse market area.
Bello added that some of the notorious spots are the bridge close to Transcorp Hilton on Ademola Adetokumbo Way, the Park Way close to Wuse market, before the Kashim Ibrahim Bridge, the bridge on Ahmadu Bello Way close to Diamond Bank Junction and also the bridge just before Area 11, where there are a lot of artisans.
“Though we have been able to remove them, but the harm done to these infrastructures can be seen clearly. We are going to carry out the much-needed enforcement so we are appealing to them to vacate all the bridges.
“They should take this as a final notice to evacuate their things because in a week we will move in and start removing all those nuisances.”
But some of the affected persons defended their decisions, saying their continued stay in the area, was just a means of surviving the economic hardship in the land, while appealing to the government to assist them in finding another place to relocate, to continue their economic activities.
For one Iya Gizo, who identified herself as a widow, who hails from Nasarawa state, although, she was aware of the dangers of living under the bridge, there was no other available place for her to stay and do business, to carter herself and her family.
Also, an artisan operating under the bridge, near City Park in Wuse II, Emmanuel Abraham, decried that the looming clearance operation would not only dislodge him and others struggling to survive but make them more vulnerable to the prevailing security and economic threats in the city.
Joyce Abdulmalik, of the Federal High Court, Abuja, heard on Wednesday, how Zenith Bank raised alarm over the huge transaction in one of its branches by Abubakar Malami, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ).
The bank said it immediately filed a Suspicious Transaction Report (STR) in respect to the transactions, during its appearance in the ongoing trial of Malami, his wife, and son over allegation of massive looting of funds belonging to the Federal Government during his tenure.
Mashelia Bata, a compliance officer with the bank, who appeared as witness in the case, where Malami, et al, are facing a 16-count charge bordering on alleged money laundering to the tune of N8.7 billion, to which they pleaded not guilty, gave the testimony while being questioned on the bank’s roles in the matter.
Details of the testimony conveyed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), stated how the compliance officer who was cross-examined by Adebayo Adedeji, lawyer to the defendants admitted that the deposits in the account statements complied with the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Arguments had stretched when Adedeji, opposed Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), lawyer to the EFCC, who had asked the witness to explain the meaning of a suspicious transaction report, stressing that there was no ambiguity in the term.
However, Okutepa, in response, maintained that section 215(3) of the Evidence Act did not preclude him from re-examining the witness while urging the court to allow the question for proper explanation.
After Abdulmalik, agreed and overruled Adedeji, the witness told the court that banks were required to alert the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) about fund deposits coming in a repetitive pattern, adding: “Any deposition of funds seen in a pattern or repetitive, you must escalate it to the NFIU.”
Remember election decision is a one-day event that could lead to four years of pains, were the words with which Seyi Makinde, Governor of Oyo State, employed to rouse Nigerian voters to action against the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027.
Makinde, said to be eyeing the Presidency in the next election circle, warned that Nigerians must not slack, but do everything in their powers to show the party the exit door for the suffering it had brought to them.
Declaring that the federal might those in power might be relying on would not work, the governor told his audience at the Oyo state Tourism Summit held at the University of Ibadan International Conference Centre (ICC), on Wednesday, that Nigerians would vote for leaders of their choice regardless of political influence.
Hear him: “I believe that this election cycle, federal might will not work. It has worked in Ekiti state in both instances but this time around, Nigerians will show politicians pepper. They will show us that they don’t want to be bystanders anymore; they will participate, and I’m sure of what I’m saying.”
Stressing how he had created structures to strengthen good governance in the state, Makinde, said while he would always root for continuity by which he would recommend a successor, the ultimate choice would be left for the people on who would lead them in the same manner they chose him.
His words: “I tell people that I will recommend for Oyo state people, but the decision will rest with the people of Oyo state. But if you make a mistake and bring someone who will not do good work, it is a one-day event, but the impact will last four years. So, we must get it right. Leadership changes but systems, they endure. So, our focus has been deliberate.
“People say, ‘oh, so Seyi, you did not mentor anyone these seven years you have been in government that can take over from you without the taint of APC’? And I ask them that Morohunkola Thomas or Bimbo Adekanbi, are they not from Oyo state? For us, if you’re from Oyo state, loyal to Oyo state, and have capacity, we will support you. We are blind to part colouration but open to capacity that can move Oyo state forward.”
Maintaining that his idea of continuity was aimed at building enduring systems that future administration could strengthen rather than replace, he added that the goal was to lay a solid foundation that would allow subsequent governments to build on existing structures instead of starting afresh.
There have been speculations that Makinde may back Bimbo Adekanbi, a former commissioner for finance in the state, as his preferred governorship candidate.
Adekanbi served in the administration of the late Abiola Ajimobi under the APC.
On Wednesday, Adebo Ogundoyin, speaker of the Oyo house of assembly, said he led lawmakers in the state “to a strategic breakfast meeting” with Adekanmbi, “the consensus gubernatorial candidate of our new party in the State Allied Peoples Movement.”
Oyo is the only state currently governed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nigeria. The party has been embroiled in an internal leadership crisis, resulting in factions aligned with Makinde and Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Buildings seized for being used as havens for criminal activities are now to be converting to police bases or residences, instead of demolishing them, if the new proposal by the Anambra State Police Command, sails through.
Ikioye Orutugu, Commissioner of Police, who canvassed for the new arrangement on Wednesday, told reporters that it made more sense putting such buildings to good use than pulling them down or setting them ablaze.
The police boss spoke against the backdrop of the burning down of big edifice in Nkpo, a community in Idemili North Local Government to the state, said to have provided a base for criminals and hideout for kidnappers, as part of the major breakthroughs by the command in recent times.
Three kidnap people including a medical doctor, were said to have been smoked out from the building, which was instantly torched in line with the Anambra State 2025 Homeland Security Laws, which empowers the state government to demolish any property used for or suspected to be proceeds of crime.
Against the backdrop of the number of buildings that had previously been pulled down, and the empty land taken over as government properties, the police boss, said it was not the best thing to do, insisting that the government should rather acquire such buildings and designate them as police posts or residences of police personnel.
Reeling out the streak of successes recorded in recent times in the state, the police boss, said they included the arrest of kidnappers, cultists, armed robbers, child traffickers, sexual predators, separatist agitators and other criminal elements.
Citing one of them as “the strategic clearance operation on 7th May 2026 in Owerre-Ezukala, Orumba South Local Government Area, he said: “Recall that the camp was earlier destroyed by a Joint Security Team. Before the confession, one Nnamdi Nkemdilim Ogbonna, male, aged 37 years, allegedly one of the top commanders of the proscribed secessionists group, is in custody as well as intelligence received overtime points on how some escaped gang members were attempting to regroup.
“The offensive operation led to the recovery of one General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with about 2,000 rounds of live chain ammunition, two fabricated rocket launchers with 25 propellers, 10 locally made Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), one locally made Beretta pistol, two pump-action guns, three hand grenades, 10 rounds of K2 live ammunition, one gas cylinder and one black Ecolac box.
“The operatives also dislodged the armed criminals and sustained operational dominance in the area to prevent any regrouping. We remain committed to sustaining ongoing operations against all forms of criminality and ensuring the safety and security of Anambra people.”
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